Happy End
by LostFairy
Summary: Sequal to Doctor Who? Martha wonders who Rose is, and what she had with the Doctor. She soon finds out, as the Doctor's past catches up with him again, and the three of them find themselves in a familiar universe... but there's a surprise waiting for them
1. Martha

Hello everyone, welcome back!

I should say now, I wrote this before I'd seen Smith and Jones, so some of the information in it contradicts the episode, as I'm sure some more information in later chapters will also contradict later episodes. But in my little Doctor Who universe Jack is also there, so things would have gone a bit differently. Yay for Jack coming back in this series!

I know Martha is and probably will be at times out of character, but with only one episode of her there's little to base her character on. I've done my best!

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

xxx

Martha felt as if she was going to die. Her legs ached with a burning pain every time her heavy feet landed on the ground. Air rushed in and out of her lungs in ragged breaths as her heart tried desperately to keep up with the overwhelming demand.

It was moments like this she lived for.

The adrenaline pumping through her veins was the only thing keeping her going, as the ground shook from the staggeringly big monster that was running after her. She was pulled along faster as Jack ran ahead of her, his hand grasping hers. He pulled her into a corner, her legs almost giving way beneath her as she struggled to regain her footing. Ahead of her was a huge, metal door that was descending at a speed she wasn't altogether comfortable with. Jack pulled her along faster as the door got closer and closer to the ground. She found herself being pulled down as they both skidded under the door, as it hit the ground with a thump behind her.

Martha remained sitting on the ground, breathless and panting as she heard the alien that had been following them bang on the door. Jack jumped to his feet and once again held the phone to his ear.

"We made it, Doc!"

"Brilliant! Now get the hell out of there, it's only a matter of time before the alarms automatically go off."

Martha vaguely recognised the Doctor's voice coming from the phone, quiet and crackly. She turned around to find Jack holding his hand out to her. He pulled her to her feet as she gratefully took it, and they both started to jog down the corridor.

"Where are we going now?" she asked breathlessly, trying to catch up with Jack.

"We're meeting the Doctor back at the TARDIS," he informed her, as they turned a corner. Martha nodded, glad that they were finally able to return to what she thought of now as her new home.

xxx

The seat in the control room was somewhat comfier than she remembered it, as she collapsed on it when she and Jack reached the TARDIS. She ran her hands through her tangled hair as Jack walked around the control room, wondering aloud where the Doctor was.

"Maybe he's just not back yet," she suggested, trying to get the knots out of her hair.

"Probably," Jack agreed as he sat next to her. She leant into him, dropping her hands to her sides. They'd come to this planet for a relaxing day off then found out that these blood-thirsty creatures were trying to devour its population, and naturally they had to stop this. The galactic police, or someone like that, had found out and were on their way to sort it out, and the Doctor being the Doctor wanted to get away before they were dragged into the investigation.

Jack put his arm around her shoulders, allowing her to move closer to him. Surprisingly, he wasn't out of breath, which Martha was extremely jealous of. He and the Doctor never seemed to get out of breath. As she felt his hand on her shoulder, she thought for a second about what had happened to her over the last few weeks.

She'd been travelling with the Doctor and Jack for exactly a month now, which was partly the reason they'd decided to take a break. When she'd first met the Doctor she'd instantly fancied him, he was, after all, rather sexy. She'd then met Jack who was also rather sexy, and found herself liking him more as he was sexy and knew it and had no problem with using it. The Doctor seemed almost asexual. He only touched her if he needed to, to pull her along while they were running or something.

When she'd first seen the TARDIS and found out the Doctor was actually an alien, it had put her off him somewhat. But over the next week or so she'd realised that the fact he was an alien didn't really matter, as Jack seemed to sleep with anything that moved (and a lot of things that didn't). At first she'd tried to get closer to Jack, but she wanted a boyfriend that was for good and not just a one-night stand, something she clearly wouldn't get with him. But it was even harder to get any closer to the Doctor. But it didn't take her long to realise that this was probably because of Rose.

He'd mentioned her when she'd first come on board and she'd made a mental note to find out more about Rose, but even now all she knew about his famed former companion was that she used to travel with them. They both seemed to go rather tight-lipped whenever she asked about Rose. At first she'd thought that Rose and the Doctor had been more then friends, mainly because of the way he looked when he thought about her, staring into space with a distant look in his eyes, as if he had nothing left. But she guessed that couldn't be true, he never seemed to get close to anybody. So right now she believed Rose was just a friend of theirs, and had assumed Rose was dead. But sometimes she still wondered if maybe he did feel more for Rose than just a platonic love, and maybe, maybe, she could do something to heal his broken heart.

She was suddenly brought back to reality as the TARDIS doors opened, and the Doctor came in.

"Finally!" Jack said, jumping up off the chair causing Martha to nearly topple over, "where've you been?"

"The galactic police found me," he said with a long sigh, "you have no idea how hard it is to get away from them." He sprinted up to the consol, and started up the engines. "You ok Martha?" he asked, glancing over at the woman half lying on the seat.

"Yeah, great," she answered quickly, standing up.

"Good," the Doctor muttered, looking up at the central column as the engines ground up and down inside it. "So, where to next?" he asked with a grin.

"Bloody hell, calm down!" Martha gasped, "We only just escaped with our lives from one planet, I think we need a bit of a break!"

"You humans, always wanting breaks," the Doctor muttered with distaste, "Alright then, I know just the place," he twisted a few dials on the consol and pulled up a lever. A second later, the TARDIS landed. He looked up with a grin. "Go on," he said, gesturing towards the door, "You'll love it."

"As long as there's no blood-sucking monsters out there," Martha said cautiously.

"I guarantee there's no blood-sucking monsters out there," the Doctor said with a sigh, "now go on, get out there," he waited as Martha walked across the room to the doors. She pushed them open, and stepped out.

As Martha walked out onto the orange grass, she looked around herself in amazement. In front of her stretched a park like on Earth, but with orange grass and leaves. There was a water fountain to the side spraying golden water into the air. Her gaze strayed upwards and she was met by a brilliant red-orange sky, in which she could clearly see the nearest planet and numerous stars, despite the fact it looked like daytime.

"Wow," she whispered in awe. Jack stood by her side, looking around with a smile on his face. She heard the door close behind her as the Doctor stepped out.

"We're on the planet Rureby, in the Scarlet System," he looked down at Martha, who was looking around with wide eyes. "What do you think?" he asked with a smile.

"It's… amazing," she whispered, at a loss for what else to say. A grin spread across her face, as she ran out into the park, ready to explore.

xxx

The three travellers sat under a tree, the orange and yellow leaves providing shade from the two bright suns that shone in the sky. Martha leant back on her hands, one leg straight and the other bent, staring upwards. Jack was laying flat on his back, his hands behind his head. The Doctor leant against the tree, his legs bent against his chest, resting his arms on his knees, watching his two companions thoughtfully.

"What's the planet called?" Martha asked, turning to face the Doctor. In the sky there was a large planet with two rings, so big it couldn't have been far away from Rureby.

"Krinsof," the Doctor answered, "Good planet, but no where near as nice as this one. Bit too industrial for me," he wrinkled his nose as he looked at the planet. Martha looked back at the planet, and leant back on her elbows.

"I'm impressed," she said, "we've been here over an hour and no aliens have turned up trying to eat us. You were right for once, this place is safe." The Doctor sat up and frowned at Martha.

"What, don't you trust me?" he asked incredulously.

"Oh I do," Martha said quickly, turning to face him again, "it's just 90 percent of the time you say we're going somewhere safe and we end up running for our lives." The Doctor didn't say anything, but chose to glare at Martha.

"She has got a point, you know," Jack said, looking up at the Doctor. He and Martha laughed as the Doctor looked away and shook his head.

"Honestly, I give you the universe and all you can do is insult me! I should drop you both back on Earth right now." They both sniggered again, and the Doctor couldn't help but smile.

"Though, even if we aren't being chased by aliens, I remember one time you took us to a planet but got the date 100 years out and we ended up trying to get back to the TARDIS before the planet exploded. I wouldn't be surprised if that happened now," Martha teased with a playful smile.

"Nah, it's centuries before this place is gone. Besides, it doesn't explode, the whole galaxy is pulled into a black hole. I should know, I was there," he stared into space thoughtfully, his eyes distant. Martha instantly recognised the look as being one he had when he thought about Rose.

"What happened?" she asked quietly, not sure whether to ask or not.

"Oh you know, the usual," he answered, his voice as distant as his eyes, "impossible planets, running from aliens, life or death, met the devil… normal stuff."

"You met the devil!?" Martha gasped, staring at him.

"Well, he called himself the devil. Still not sure if I believe him or not."

"What happened?" Martha asked curiously, "was he trying to take over the universe or something? How did you stop him?"

"Sorta trying to take over the universe, yeah. I didn't do much, I just sent the body into the black hole. It was the mind that was escaping, and…" he trailed off, lost in his own thoughts and memories. His eyes flicked down to the ground, and he ran a hand through his hair. "Rose stopped him," he said quietly. Martha and Jack remained silent, as she shifted awkwardly, regretting bringing the subject up. A sad but proud smile came to the Doctor's face. "We wouldn't be here now if it wasn't for her," he said quietly. He then looked up to the sky, taking a deep breath. A second later he jumped to his feet and began to walk off. Martha was about to go after him, but Jack stopped her; he knew the Doctor needed some time alone.

xxx

Martha sat on the edge of the fountain, running her hand through the golden water. It was cool on her skin, refreshing in the hot atmosphere. She looked at the people around her; children laughing as they played their games, adults sitting on benches talking together, all with orange tinted skin that made it look like they'd used slightly too much self-tan.

She noticed a familiar man walking towards her, and smiled at Jack as he sat on the fountain next to her.

"We should probably get going, this place gets freezing at night," he said. Martha sighed, lifting her hand out of the water and wiping it off on her jeans.

"Ok," she mumbled, like a child who's just been told their playtime was up. Jack stood up and started to walk back to the TARDIS, and she reluctantly followed him.

xxx

Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor was already sitting on the chair waiting for them.

"You're back!" he announced, standing up and walking to the consol. "See, told ya I could take you somewhere relaxing," he said snugly as the engines started up.

"Ok, ok," Martha said, rolling her eyes. She then found herself yawning, and quickly covered her mouth.

"You're not tired already?" the Doctor moaned, "You lot are always sleeping. You'd sleep your life away with half a chance."

"Not our fault we need more than two hours a night," Jack argued jokingly, but he knew there was a deeper reason why the Doctor didn't sleep.

"Go on you two," the Doctor said with a roll of the eyes, "To bed. Hop it," He watched as Martha headed towards the door.

"Night," she said as she exited the room. The two men watched the door for a few seconds, until Jack turned to the Doctor.

"You ok?" he asked, and the Doctor turned to him.

"Yeah, fine, why wouldn't I be?" Jack have him a knowing look.

"Are you ever going to tell her?" he asked, and the Doctor knew what he was talking about.

"She doesn't need to know," he said simply. Jack nodded, and headed to the door.

"See ya later," he said as he walked out.

"Bye," the Doctor muttered, then pressed a button on the consol. Something flashed on the screen as it beeped negative. He sighed the same sigh he had every day for the last five years. He had almost lost hope in ever getting back to the woman he loved.

xxx

Martha slept soundly in her bed, wrapped in the extra soft sheets that only the TARDIS seemed able to provide. It had taken her a while to get used to the humming of the engines, but now they seemed to lull her to sleep.

Suddenly there was a loud bang as the room lurched. She woke up instantly and looked around herself in surprise, her chest heaving. The engines died down back to normal, and she was about to lay back down when the room lurched again and she was throw out of her bed across the room. She lay on the floor entangled in her covers for a few moments as the room rocked around her. She struggled against the duvet and kicked it away from her before jumping up and running out of the door.

xxx

By the time she got to the consol room Jack was already there watching the Doctor jump around the consol trying to stabilise the TARDIS. Martha's cheeks flushed a bright red when she saw that Jack was wearing nothing but a pair of boxers. She herself was wearing a strappy pyjama top and trousers. Jack gave her a cheeky grin and a wink, but they were quickly thrown to the side as the room lunged again.

"What's happening!?" Martha shouted over the noise of the struggling engines.

"The TARDIS is being pulled in by something," the Doctor shouted back, "But I don't know what!" he hit a lever and the shaking subsided. "I've stopped it, for now. You two better go get dressed - especially you Jack." The consol beeped and the Doctor lowered himself down into the wires below the floor, as Jack and Martha ran out of the door to their rooms.

xxx

Martha had had a suitably tricky time getting dressed, and it hadn't got any better by the time she'd stumbled back to the control room. Jack was trying to help the Doctor pilot the TARDIS, and by the sound of the Doctor's annoyed voice, he wasn't doing a very good job of it. Eventually they were all thrown to the ground as the TARDIS roughly landed. The Doctor instantly jumped up and looked at the screen.

"Where are we?" Jack asked as he stood up.

"I don't know," the Doctor replied thoughtfully, "I think... I don't know." Jack held out his hand to Martha, who gratefully took it. He pulled her up as the Doctor started to walk to the doors.

"I thought you said you didn't know where we are," Martha said, and the Doctor stopped as he reached the doors.

"I don't," he said simply.

"Then it's not safe to go out!" She argued, but the Doctor just have her a grin.

"When's it ever safe to go out?" he asked, then walked out the doors.


	2. Possibilities

Hello again! Thanks to everyone who reviewed, you guys are great. If you're reading this, please do review. I do update quicker if I get more reviews.

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who.

xxx

Martha and Jack quickly ran outside after the Doctor, and were met by darkness. They were standing in the middle of a spotlight, the area around them in pitch black. Martha could see the Doctor in front of her, looking around.

"Hello again, Doctor," came a voice from the darkness. The Doctor and Jack instantly recognised it, and a shiver went down their spine. A man stepped into the light, dressed completely in black, with his hands behind his back, and a smirk upon his face.

"Master," the Doctor greeted deadpan. The Master almost instantly noticed Martha standing behind the Doctor watching him nervously.

"Oh I say! You've got yourself a new friend," he said, taking a step towards the Doctor. "And who might she be?"

"This is Martha," the Doctor introduced, "Martha, this is the Master, one of the most evil people in the Universe."

"Oh you flatter me," the Master said sarcastically, "But do tell me – what happened to Rose?" The Doctor stared at his enemy with a pain burning in his eyes.

"She's gone," he said quietly.

"Oh? Gone where?"

"Just… gone. I lost her," his voice was shaking as he tried not to show a weakness to the Master, who nodded slowly.

"I see," he said, pretending to look sympathetic, "she died. How very tragic. Well, that's what you get when you fall in love with a human." Martha's eyes widened and she stared in astonishment at the Master. Was he right? Had the Doctor loved Rose? "Too bad, she was such an integral part of my plan."

"She's not dead!" The Doctor shouted suddenly, surprising everyone present. "She's out there somewhere, living her own life, just the way she should be, safe and away from people like_ you_!" His voice shook with anger as he glared at the Master, who looked at him in confusion.

"If she's alive," he said, "then why aren't you with her?" his voice was surprisingly calm despite the Doctor's outburst. The Doctor looked to the ground; he clearly didn't want to talk about it. The Master took a step closer to him, and almost whispered to him. "Did she leave you?" he asked, almost mockingly.

"No," the Doctor said quickly, looking up at the Master.

"Then where is she?" he asked, tilting his head to the side. The Doctor didn't say anything for a few moments.

"She's trapped," he said finally, "in a parallel universe. Somewhere _you _can never get to her!" The Master looked at the Doctor as a frown crossed his features.

"I thought you said since the Time Lords were gone it was impossible to travel between universes?" he asked sceptically.

"There was a hole in reality. A breach, connecting the universes. But the breach is now closed and I can't get back through," the Doctor explained. The Master stared at him for a long moment, his eyes wide as he ran this through his mind.

"And I bet you'd do anything to get back to her," he stated rather than asked. The Doctor narrowed his eyes at him, confused and angry at the same time. "Interesting," the Master said thoughtfully. "Ironic, isn't it, now that the Time Lords are gone you can't get back to her. After what you did to them," the Doctor stared at the Master wide-eyed, as the Master's voice took on a tone of bitterness, "I know what really happened. Murderer."

"I had no choice," the Doctor argued, trying to defend himself.

"How does it feel," the Master asked, "knowing that you killed your own species?" The Doctor took a deep breath as he tried to calm himself and not do something he would regret.

"How do you know what happened?" he asked after a moments pause. A smirk replaced the look of hatred on the Master's face.

"I asked someone who was there," he said. The Doctor frowned as the Master stepped to the side, and looked back into the darkness, as a familiar blue light began to fade into view. Jack and the Doctor both stared in horror as it glided into the light.

"Alert! Alert! It is the Doctor!" the familiar metallic voice shouted, "Exterminate!!" the Doctor took an instinctive step backwards as the gun pointed up towards him, but the Master put his hand out to stop it.

"Now, now, we don't want him dead," he said calmly, as the Dalek looked up at him, "Yet." The Doctor eyed the black Dalek suspiciously.

"How are you here?" he asked it, ready to run if it decided not to obey the Master and kill him anyway.

"When you opened the breach I initiated an emergency temporal shift," the Dalek explained.

"And why are you with the Master?" he asked, looking between his two enemies. The Master answered this question.

"The Dalek wants to open the breach, to release the other Daleks, but to do that a TARDIS is required. If I help, then in return I will received a new cycle of regenerations," the Master said.

"You're… going to help the Daleks?" the Doctor said disbelievingly.

"Yes."

"The Time Lords' enemy?"

"Yes."

"The race that killed the Time Lords?"

"_You _killed the Time Lords."

"Because of the Daleks," The Doctor looked between them again, hardly able to believe the Master was doing this. "They won't give you want you want, you know that. They've always killed the people that have helped them once they get what they needed."

"Lies!" the Dalek shouted, "You will receive your regenerations in return for opening the breach!" The Doctor could see the doubt on the Master's face, but it didn't last long.

"And why should I believe you, Doctor?"

"Because it's the truth!" the Doctor warned, "I'm telling you now, the Daleks wont do as they say. They never do. Stop this now if you want to live," the Doctor looked at the Master with genuine concern, but he wouldn't be convinced.

"If I help them, I will rule the universe with them. Why should I give up that chance?"

"They're going to kill you!"

"And what makes your word any better then theirs?" the Doctor could only stare in disbelief.

"I tried to warn you," he muttered, then turned and ran into the TARDIS. Jack and Martha quickly followed him in, and the Master watched as the TARDIS dematerialised, a smile spreading across his face. Things hadn't gone exactly to plan, but that didn't matter.

They'd gone better.

xxx

The Doctor angrily attacked the consol as the TARDIS went into flight, the room rocking violently before calming down. He looked down at the consol, breathing deeply.

Martha was still amazed. She didn't know a thing about the Doctor's past, and she'd never been able to ask about his home planet. But what that man had said – he'd _killed _them. He'd always stood up for what was right and had always tried to save everyone, but he'd killed his own people. She felt a wave of fear wash over her, she really had no idea who this man was and what he was capable of. She couldn't trust him anymore. And if all his people were dead, did that mean he was the last one? She had to know what had happened, but now didn't exactly look like a great time to ask.

Then there was Rose. She'd just assumed they were friends. She'd known the Doctor was close to her, she could tell, but she couldn't imagine him being someone's boyfriend. It didn't seem right. And the fact that Rose wasn't actually dead also hit her hard. Everything she'd thought about the Doctor seemed to be turning upside down.

Jack ran from her side to the Doctor's, and watched the screen as the Doctor fiddled with the controls.

"What's happening?" Jack asked. The Doctor shook his head and ran a hand through his hair.

"They're trying to open the void," he said, "like the Master said, they need a TARDIS. But one TARDIS isn't enough. He needs mine as well, he needs me to open the breach, and I'm guessing he was planning on kidnapping Rose again and forcing me to do it."

"But he couldn't do that, so he can't open the breach," Jack said, looked at the Doctor, whose gaze remained on the screen. The Doctor had a deep frown, that gently faded.

"If we open the breach I can get back to Rose," he said quietly.

xxx

The Master sat in his TARDIS as the engines worked, watching the screen. He'd tapped into the Doctor's TARDIS, and was watching as the Doctor realised he could get back to Rose.

The Doctor had been right about his plan – he had planned to kidnap Rose and force the Doctor to open the breach. But now he didn't need to. This gave the Doctor a chance to get back to her… and that was more convincing than any threat could be.

xxx

The Doctor looked up at Jack, his eyes lost.

"I could get back to her," he whispered, "endanger the whole universe and risk the Daleks killing everyone…" he looked back at the screen, breathing deeply, "I can't do that." Jack knew that the Doctor would never risk the lives of millions of people just so he could do something, no matter how much he wanted it. But he couldn't let this opportunity pass.

"Doctor, you can come back and stop them. You've done it before. Just go to the other universe, find Rose, then come back seconds after you've left," he suggested. The Doctor looked up at him, his expression helpless and confused.

"But I can't navigate through the void, we could end up a hundred years after the Daleks were released. I might not be able to stop them. I can't risk the whole universe just to get back to her… can I?" he mentally raced through the possibilities, as his eyes burned with pain and loss and possibility, his mind split with indecision.

"Do it," Jack ordered, sounding more certain of this than nothing he'd ever said before. A manic grin spread across the Doctor's face, as he went to the controls and sent the TARDIS hurtling into the void.

xxx

The Master watched with a satisfied smile as the Doctor's TARDIS began to fade off his scanner. He knew there was no way that the Doctor could give up the chance of seeing her again. The beeping from his consol grew louder and louder as the breach was ripped open, and the Doctor's TARDIS disappeared completely.

After being in the Time War, the sight of Daleks swarming across a planet would usually numb someone with fear and shock them to the core, but not this time. This time the Master thought it was beautiful.


	3. The Life of Rose Tyler

I think it's time for a Rose chapter. 'Cause we all love Rose...

This chapter (and in fact her character in most of the story) has been almost completely inspired by the story 'Rose Smiles' which is simply amazing. It rather changed my view on how to write Rose here, because that is what she would have done. I have to admit, kinda nicked what is said in the last paragraph from it. If anyone hasn't read it, I highly advise doing a search for it (it was posted ages ago) and reading it. It's a oneshot so won't take long to read, but it's bloody amazing. Then of course come back and read this.

HOW good was The Shakespeare Code? Being a 10rose shipper I'm rather in love with it :D

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who.

xxx

The first few weeks had been hard. She didn't really believe he was gone, she thought he'd find a way back to her. He always did. They were never really separated, not forever. He always made everything go back to normal, he'd come through and materialise and run out shouting about how amazing he was that he'd managed to get through. And she'd wait for him, she wasn't going to just move on like that. Because she knew he was coming.

It was when she found out Jackie was pregnant that it had hit her. The rest of the family seemed to be settling down, it had been over a month by then, she'd lost track of time. Surely the Doctor would have come back by now. But he did have a time machine, maybe he just got the coordinates wrong. He did take her back one year to late at one point.

As time went on, Rose began to realise. He wasn't coming back. This was really it, this was the end. She'd never be able to see him again. And when she realised that nothing worked anymore, and nothing in life made sense. She spent days, weeks just lying in bed, thinking of nothing but the Doctor.

And gradually she realised that she shouldn't be doing this. She remembered what he'd said to her when he'd sent her back, just before he'd regenerated. _'If you want to remember me Rose, then do one thing. That's it Rose, one thing. Have a good life. Do that for me Rose, have a fantastic life.' _

So she did. She got up, and she did something with her life. She found herself a job in the most perfect place, Torchwood. As the weeks went by she got happier and managed to adjust to life without him. She was quickly recognised as being one of the best experts on aliens, and dared to admit that she was starting to get used to life without the Doctor.

Then she had the dream. She could hear him calling… he was coming to get her. She knew it. He _must _be. He'd found a way through and he needed her to go somewhere. So she told the family, and they packed up and went to Norway, Bad Wolf Bay. She stood on the beach, waiting, waiting for the TARDIS to appear. Waiting for him to step out and take her in his arms and whisk her away back to the life she wanted.

When she found out why he was really there, she was devastated. He'd come to say goodbye, and she only had a matter of minutes to speak to him. And so they spoke for the last time on that lonely beach, desperate just to touch each other, just to feel the other's skin on theirs, to reach through realities and do the impossible. She wanted nothing more than for him to embrace her and to lean into him and hear the gentle beat of his hearts, she didn't care what it would cost, whether the universe would be destroyed, she just wanted to be with him one, last time.

Then he was gone. Faded into the ether, out of her life forever. And for just a moment there was nothing left. She felt weak and lonely as tears cascaded from her eyes, her body shaking from the overwhelming pain and loss. She felt her mother hug her and do everything she could to comfort her, but it wasn't enough. It could never be enough.

The journey back had been the longest journey in her life. She was silent the whole time, staring out the window, knowing that somewhere out there he was there, as lonely as she was.

But she knew she couldn't give up. So she carried on working at Torchwood, and after the first few days she felt happier that they'd said goodbye. If it had just ended, it wouldn't have been right. But they'd said goodbye, and maybe it was time to move on. He'd said that all the people before her had, they'd moved on with their lives, found somewhere new to live. But then again, all the people before her hadn't exactly been in love with him. Well, other than Sarah-Jane, and even she'd managed to find her own life.

So the weeks went by and she learnt to smile. And it wasn't long before she was happy – properly happy, actually content with her life. She got promoted in Torchwood, and found that her life was so much better than it had been before. She was better off for having known the Doctor, and now every time she was reminded of him, instead of breaking down and crying like one might expect, she smiled. Why? Because life was too short to cry. Because he'd want her to. Because she could remember the good times with him. Because it made her happy. Not that she wouldn't give anything to have him back.

Then she got the news, and her life was turned upside down.


	4. The Search Is On

Mmm, Easter eggs. I'm so tempted to make them arrive at Easter and have lots of chocolate... :P

Anyway, moving on. This is a bit of a short chapter, but the next one will be much longer. Promise!

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who.

xxx

The TARDIS lurched sickeningly and threw Martha roughly to the ground, sparks flying from the consol as the lights flickered and flashed. Martha clung desperately onto the railings she'd been thrown into as the room swayed around her, until finally there was an almighty explosion from the centre of the room that sent the Doctor and Jack flying backwards, as flames rose up and spread across the ceiling before dying away. Martha dared to open her eyes, and saw… nothing. For a moment, all she saw was darkness. Then as her eyes adjusted to the lack of light, she could make out the outline of the consol, and the objects in the room. Next to her the Doctor and Jack began to sit up, recovering from being thrown across the room.

The Doctor looked around with wide eyes, then quickly jumped up. He walked up to the consol, and ran his hand over the side, the vibrations of a live TARDIS gone. Jack stood up and watched the Doctor silently. Martha unsteadily made her way to her feet.

"What happened?" she whispered.

"The TARDIS is dead," the Doctor said quietly.

"What?" Martha couldn't quite believe what she was hearing. "Can't you fix it?"

"Should be able to, could last time," the Doctor replied, leaning under the consol.

"Where are we anyway? What happened?" Martha was tempted to go out the doors, but knew she probably shouldn't. The Doctor stood up straight, and also looked to the doors.

"We should be…" he paused nervously, almost afraid to think it in case it wasn't true. He walked slowly to the doors, and gently pushed them open.

xxx

The Doctor stepped outside into the London street, and his gaze instantly went to the sky.

When Martha and Jack came out, the Doctor was staring at the sky, which for some reason was full of zeppelins.

"Is this London?" Martha gasped, scanning the familiar but different city around her. "I mean, it looks like London, but it can't be…" she noticed a newspaper on the edge of a table of a café near them, and ran over to it. She grabbed the paper and read the date. "24th March 2012," she read aloud, "five years in the future," she looked back up at the sky, "things can't have changed this much in five years."

"Five years…" the Doctor said thoughtfully, "it's only been a couple of years here…" he looked down from the sky, his eyes wide and mouth hanging open in sheer disbelief. He turned round to his two companions, one of which was beginning to smile, the other was beginning to understand what had happened.

"You said she was in a parallel universe," Martha said, "is this it? Is this a parallel universe?" she looked at the Doctor, who suddenly grinned from ear to ear.

"Oh yes!" he laughed, "Ha!" Martha didn't think she'd ever seen him so happy. She watched as he and Jack both cheered and hugged each other, barely able to keep in their excitement. The Doctor then ran over to her and grabbed the paper off her and looked at the date. "Thursday," he read, then looked at his watch, "3:47pm, she should be at work. Martha!" he dropped the paper on the table and gave her a big grin, "any idea where Canary Warf is?" She looked around her, as she tried to figure out where in London they were.

"That way…" she said, pointing in a vague direction, "I think." The Doctor glanced around at where she was pointing, then looked back at her. He then pulled her into a hug and kissed her on the forehead.

"Let's go!" he said happily, running in the direction she'd pointed, closely followed by Jack. For a moment, all she could do was stare. The closest he'd got to her before was holding her hand to pull her along, and he'd just hugged and kissed her… he must be _really _happy.

A second later Jack poked his head round the corner of the building he and the Doctor had just run behind.

"You coming?" he asked, and she grinned and ran after them.

xxx

Martha led them down various roads and paths to where she hoped Canary Warf was. The London traffic crawled by as they ran straight past, pushing their way through the crowds. Before long, they could see the huge building towering above them, with the Torchwood logo on the glass doors. They tried to calm down as they reached the entrance, deciding that bursting through demanding to know where Rose Tyler was would probably get them locked up.

Jack eyed the logo on the doors, thinking briefly about how weird it was that Torchwood, so secret on their world, was so public on this one. The Doctor was the first to go through the doors, running up to the counter and skidding to a half just in front of it, which earned him a few odd looks. Jack and Martha quickly ran after him, as he waited eagerly to talk to the woman behind the help desk.

"Hello!" he greeted as the person before him walked away, "I'm looking for Rose Tyler. Don't suppose you could tell me where she is?"

"Rose Tyler?" The woman confirmed, and he nodded. She looked down at her computer as she typed the data in.

As the Doctor waited, Martha saw various alien artefacts displayed around the lobby, in glass cabinets with writing and diagrams around them. She wondered toward something disturbingly familiar, and stopped by the cabinet containing a scanning device that the galactic police had used to tell if someone was human or not. On the plaque next to it, it said that the police had transported a hospital to the moon in search of an alien, but Torchwood had managed to communicate with them and they had found the alien in question with little fuss. Martha supposed that, had the Doctor not been there, the alien would have destroyed half the planet. She then wondered what happened to this universe's Doctor, and if she or Jack were also in this universe.

She looked around as she heard Jack walk up next to her.

"Have you found out where Rose is?" she asked, but he shook his head.

"There's something wrong with the network here, so she's got to e-mail people who might know. Honestly, big company like this, you'd think they could fix the computers." Martha sniggered, but her smile soon faded.

"Jack?"

"Yeah?" Martha paused, unsure if she should ask the question or not. She decided she might as well, she had nothing to lose.

"What happened to Rose?" Jack paused, and looked away from her.

"It's a long story," he muttered.

"Looks like we have a long time," Martha replied, glancing round at the Doctor who was leaning impatiently on the counter, drumming his fingers on the surface. Jack didn't answer, he just stared into space.

xxxFLASHBACKxxx

The room rocked around Jack as he heard smashes around him, as if the whole building was being bombed. He lost his footing, and fell to the ground. The Doctor had said that they had to open the breach, but that they would wait for Jack to come back up in case something went wrong, but Jack guessed they couldn't wait any longer.

He tried to make his way up the shaking stairs, back to where the Doctor and Rose were. He hadn't been through the void, so he wasn't going to get sucked in, but he knew that they would both have to hold onto something. And judging by the way the building was shaking, they'd have to be holding on bloody hard.

He made it up to the next floor and stumbled up the next flight of steps, seeing the floods of Daleks and Cybermen being pulled into the building out the windows. Every now and again a Cyberman flew past him, and he had to be careful not to get hit by one.

As he made it up the next two floors, he saw that the Daleks and Cybermen were no longer flying into the building, and guessed that they'd all been pulled in. But the breach was still open, the building still shaking.

He was finally on the right floor, and ran down the swaying corridors. Computers and machines where falling around him as he ran through a row of offices. He burst through another door into the security room, and was about to run through the next door when he heard something that caught his attention.

He looked around at the monitors displaying footage from the security cameras stationed around the building, and his attention was pulled to the one in the room with the breach. As he saw what was happening, his blood ran cold.

Rose was clinging onto the lever, her entire body off the ground from the force of the void. The Doctor was reaching out to her, helplessly calling her name, telling her to hold on. Jack could see her losing her grip, but he was to scared to move.

Then it was too late. He watched in horror as she lost her grip and fell towards the void, screaming as the Doctor screamed with her. Then he was running, the last thing he heard being the sound of the Doctor's voice as he helplessly cried out her name.

By the time he reached the room, it had all stopped. The building had stopped shaking, the howl of the void had gone. He knew it was too late, but he ran anyway. He burst through the door into the room, and came to a halt at what he saw, as a chill went down his spine and he felt suddenly empty.

The Doctor, who didn't seem to have noticed him, was standing against the far wall, with his hand resting on the white concrete. Jack stared, his mouth hanging open, hardly able to believe what had happened. The Doctor's hand dropped from the wall, and he numbly walked away from it, his eyes dead. Jack didn't need to ask what had happened. He knew what had happened.

She was gone.

xxxFLASHBACKxxx

"Jack?"

He was suddenly pulled back to reality by Martha's voice.

"Hello? You still with us?" he looked over at her, her eyes questioning. He looked behind her at the Doctor, who was still waiting for an answer.

"Let's go see if they've found Rose yet," he said, jogging back towards the help desk. Martha could only stare as he ran past her.

"Thanks for answering my question," she said sarcastically, then ran after him.

The Doctor was still waiting impatiently as Jack and Martha ran back up to him. He was tempted to just stick the sonic screwdriver over the desk and fix the computer, and he would have done if he wouldn't have then got taken away for having alien tech. Finally, the woman behind the desk smiled as she found an answer.

"I'm sorry, but Rose Tyler isn't here at the moment, she's at home," she said calmly, reading the information on screen. The Doctor sighed, after all this and she wasn't even in the building. She looked up at him with a smile that he felt completely contradicted what she said next. "She's on maternity leave."


	5. Impossible Child

Sorry for the long update! I think you've probably guessed why, I couldn't upload any documents... but it works now XD

I'm not too proud of this chapter, but it gets better later.

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who.

xxx

The Doctor sat on a bench just outside Canary Warf, staring numbly into the distance. After he'd been told Rose was on maternity leave, he hadn't said anything, he'd just walked out, and was now sitting on a bench staring into space. Quite why he wasn't happy that he and Rose had had a child, Jack and Martha didn't know.

"I don't understand," Jack muttered to Martha as they watched the Doctor, "he should be happy. He and Rose love each other, and now they've got a baby. Isn't that a good thing?"

"Generally, yeah," Martha agreed. Jack decided it was about time to ask the Doctor what was going on, and sat on the bench next to him.

"So!" he said, slapping his knees, as Martha stood next to him, "What's up?"

"The sky," the Doctor muttered deadpan.

"Very funny," Jack said sarcastically, "What's wrong? You should be happy, Rose has had a baby!"

"Yes, she has," the Doctor agreed.

"So what's wrong?" the Doctor sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"It's not mine," he said quietly.

"What do you mean? Of course it's yours," Jack argued. The Doctor looked up at him.

"It can't be mine. All Time Lords are sterile, there was this curse… I can't have children," the Doctor explained sadly, "So it can't possibly be mine." He sighed and ran his hand through his hair again.

"But Eta and Deb-"

"They were before the curse," the Doctor interrupted, "it didn't affect them." Jack nodded slowly. There was an awkward silence.

"It could be yours, I mean anything's possible with you," Martha said with a small laugh.

"Not that," the Doctor muttered with a sigh. "Which means," he carried on, sitting up, "that she's got herself a boyfriend and is having a family with him," he said it somewhat distantly, his voice breaking towards the end. He looked at his two companions, and quickly put on a smile. "Which is good! Means she moving on with her life, just like she should be. She's living her own life. It's good," he looked downwards, not sure who he was trying to convince.

"Doctor," Jack said sternly, "Do you _really _think that Rose would get another boyfriend?"

"She could do," he answered quietly. Jack could hardly believe he was hearing this. "And if she has, then I shouldn't see her. If I just go wandering back into her life, and she's starting a family, then it'll just complicate things," he stood up solemnly, and Jack watched him in disbelief, "We should go," he said quietly, and began walking back in the direction of the TARDIS.

Before Jack could stop himself, he was on his feet, running in front of the Doctor and hitting him across the face. "Ow!" he gasped, rubbing his cheek, "What the hell did you do that for?!"

"Well if that's what it takes to knock some sense into you!" Jack shouted, "Bloody hell Doctor, for a smart guy you can sure be stupid sometimes. She _loves _you. I know how much she loves you, and so should you. She loves you as much as you love her, and believe me, she would _not _just move on like that!" Jack took a deep breath as he tried to calm himself down. "She's _not _got a new boyfriend or husband or whatever and is not starting a family." He stated.

"So what do you suggest happened?" the Doctor asked.

"Well, could be anything. Alien intervention, she works in Torchwood anything can happen there. Maybe it is your child and something happened which made her pregnant. Maybe it's an alien child. Maybe an experiment at Torchwood went wrong. Maybe…" he trailed off, looking around before looking back at the Doctor. "Whatever it is, I think she needs you," he said confidently, "Because believe me it's not her happily starting a family." The Doctor nodded slowly, knowing that Jack was right. "So how do we get to her?" Jack asked.

xxx

The three of them sat in the back of a rather cramped taxi, the Doctor and Martha each at a window. The Doctor was staring out the window as the London buildings flashed past, excited and nervous at the same time. As worried as he was about the possibility of Rose being in love with someone else, he knew deep down that she wouldn't be able to move on that fast. He sure couldn't.

The buildings came to a stop outside as the car slowed down. The Doctor turned around to look forward, and saw they had hit a traffic jam. The driver leant back in his seat drumming his fingers to the song on the radio, as the car crawled along at speeds they could probably walk faster than. It wasn't long before the Doctor got inanely bored of this and opened the door.

"What do you think you're doing?!" the driver yelled as he jumped out of the car, quickly followed by Jack and Martha. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the notes that he'd just got from a cash point and thrust them through the driver's window.

"Keep the change," he said with a grin, before running down the road.

"Thanks!" the driver shouted after them, gathering up his newfound fortune.

Thankfully, they weren't far from the Tyler mansion and reached it in less than a minute. The Doctor stared for a few long seconds at the huge house in front of him, as he walked almost numbly to the closed gates.

"Bloody hell," Martha gasped, "Is this where she lives??" she looked with wide eyes through the gates at the mansion in awe.

"Let's hope so," the Doctor muttered, before walking over to the intercom at the side of the gates.

"Big enough," Martha murmured sarcastically.

"She lived in a flat before," the Doctor commented with an impish grin as he pressed the button below the grill. There was static, but no answer. The Doctor pressed it again, and a third time. He finally ran out of patience and reached for his sonic screwdriver to open gate himself, when suddenly a voice cut through the static.

"Hello?" it said. It was a female voice, and despite the static the Doctor instantly knew who it was. At the sound of her voice all his worries seemed to suddenly disappear. For a second he couldn't seem to answer, the sound of her muffled voice numbing him with relief, happiness and, to a certain extent, surprise. "Who is this?" he still couldn't seem to answer. He'd dreamt about this moment for years but when it came to it, he couldn't seem to breathe. "Anyone there?"

"Rose?" he finally managed to say, his voice little more than a whisper.

"Yeah, who is this?" a disbelieving smile played on his lips.

"It's me," he said, trying to keep in his excitement. There was a long silence on the other end, so much so that the Doctor was temped to push the button again, but her voice came back, as much as hushed whisper as his was.

"…Doctor?" she whispered, clearly also unable to believe what was happening. He laughed slightly, running a hand through his hair.

"Hello Rose," he said, his voice a mixture of emotions. There was another silence, until suddenly the gates began to open and the intercom switched off. The Doctor grinned and ran through the gates, as Jack and Martha followed him through but stayed a few metres back from him.

Inside the house, voices were shouting about why the gates were opening as one person ran laughing to the door.

The Doctor skidded to a stop half way up the drive as he saw the door open. For a moment his breath caught and his hearts stopped as in the doorway he saw her. Then there was a shriek of laughter from both sides and they were both running.

After what seemed like an eternity, they finally met in the middle. Rose threw her arms around his neck as he wrapped his around her body and lifted her clean off the ground, swinging her round. She laughed gleefully as he swung her round as they held onto each other, never wanting to let go again. They both cried joyful tears as they thought of nothing but each other.

Finally the Doctor dropped her gently back on the ground and they parted just enough to see each other. But it didn't last long as Rose quickly pressed her lips to his. They both opened their mouths as their tongues slipped together, and they kissed with a suppressed passion.

After what was never going to be enough time, they separated again. Rose still had tears running down her cheeks, her eyes showing an unbridled amount of joy.

"You still love me then?" the Doctor whispered.

"Of course I do!" she almost laughed, completely lost as for why she might not love him. "Why wouldn't I?"

"I just thought… I don't know what I thought," he said, shaking his head.

"I've got something to tell you," she said excitedly, happy and nervous at the same time.

"I thought you might have," the Doctor muttered thoughtfully. He could tell Rose was nervous about telling him, and she probably should be. He lifted his hand and rested it softly on her salty cheek. "What is it?" he asked gently, wiping a tear from her eye.

"I, um…" she looked downwards, took a deep breath, then looked back at him. "I had a baby," she said, almost laughing at how silly it sounded. The Doctor nodded slowly.

"Whose is it?" he asked. Rose stared at him in astonishment.

"Aren't you surprised that I had a baby?!" she gasped.

"I found out at Torchwood, I looked for you there first," he answered, wiping a hair from her face.

"Oh," she said quietly.

"So?" the Doctor asked, "Whose is it?" she looked up at him again, still looking slightly confused.

"Whose do you think?" she asked with a laugh, "it's yours!" she couldn't help but giggle at the Doctor's expression.

"But it can't be," he whispered.

"She's got two hearts I bloody hope she's yours!" Rose laughed. The Doctor stared at her for a moment.

"She?" he whispered, and Rose nodded.

"I called her Aurora," Rose said proudly, "Aurora Gilraen Tyler."

"Gilraen?" the Doctor asked, bemused.

"It means star-wanderer," Rose explained with a slightly embarrassed smile. "Thought it was appropriate," they both laughed, but quickly sobered up.

"Aurora…" the Doctor said thoughtfully, "I like it," they both smiled at each other. "Where is she?"

"In bed," Rose answered. He nodded, as a smile crept onto his face.

"I think we're being watched," he said, glancing sideways towards the house. Rose followed his gaze and blushed slightly when she saw her parents watching them.

"He's noticed us!" Jackie shouted, with just a hint of sarcasm. But she then smiled warmly at him; for all his flaws, she was damn happy to have him back.

"Bloody hell she's smiling at me I was expecting a slap," the Doctor muttered, and Rose couldn't help but laugh. "Oh, I think Jack might want to say hi," he added, looking over at Jack. Rose looked over at him, and he was already walking up to her.

"Nice to see you again," he said with a winning grin, and pulled her into a hug. As they separated, Pete and Jackie walked up to them, and they noticed Martha for the first time.

"Right, um, everyone, this is Martha," the Doctor introduced, scratching the back of his neck, "Martha, this is Rose, Pete and Jackie."

"Hi," Martha said somewhat shyly. She wasn't usually one to be shy, but she felt strangely out of place here.

"Oh I get it," Jackie said angrily, "You lose Rose so you get yourself another girlfriend! What's she, Rose's replacement?"

"No," the Doctor said sternly, "No no no. She is in no way replacing Rose." Martha had to nod in agreement.

"He made sure to tell me of that the first time I got on the TARDIS," she said.

"He talked about me?" Rose asked in slight disbelief.

"Yeah, sometimes," Martha answered, slightly confused as to why Rose seemed so happy about that.

"More than you can say for Sarah-Jane," she muttered happily. Before the Doctor could say anything, Pete spoke.

"So how did you get back?" he asked, curious as always.

"Oh, that? That's a long story," the Doctor answered quickly, "Tell ya later." He gave Pete a quick smile, and while he wasn't convinced that everything was right, Jackie really didn't care how the Doctor got back because knowing him he'd just sprout off a load of technical gibberish, so instead she decided to ask them in.

xxx

The Doctor and Rose both sat on a sofa, with Jack and Martha on another sofa and Pete on the other one.

"I'll get everyone drinks," Jackie said, heading to the kitchen.

"Two years and your mothers still obsessed with tea, nothing's changed," the Doctor muttered, and Rose giggled. Jackie didn't seem to notice as she went around the room asking what people wanted, most people saying tea, other than Martha who passed on both. As Jackie headed out the room, Rose turned to the Doctor.

"How long has it been for you?" she asked, and he did a swift burst on mental arithmetic.

"About five years," he answered, and her eyes widened.

"_Five_ years?!" she gasped, "It's only been two years for me!"

"I know," he said, then added, "How old is Aurora?"

"About six months," Rose answered.

"Is that it? How long were you pregnant for??"

"I wasn't pregnant for the first few months…" Rose answered, and had to laugh at the Doctor's bemused expression. "I was hoping you could explain what happened!" she laughed.

"I'm also hoping I can explain what happened," he said, "'Cause I'm getting increasingly curious." Then another thought hit the Doctor. "What about Jackie's baby?" he asked.

"Ooh, Jenna! She's almost a year old now," Rose answered happily, "and she's a hell of a lot easier to look after than Aurora."

"Why? She should be easy to look after."

"She just never seems to stop crying," Rose said sadly.

Before the Doctor could say anything, they were all interrupted by a sudden crying.

"Speak of the devil," Rose muttered. They looked round as Jackie came in, with a baby in her arms.

"I heard her crying, so I went to get her," Jackie explained. Rose stood up and walked over to her mother as the Doctor stared at them with wide eyes.

"Is that…?" he whispered, as Rose took her daughter into her arms. She turned to the Doctor with a smile.

"Doctor, come and meet your daughter," she said, gently rocking her baby in an attempt to calm her down. The Doctor jumped off the sofa and quickly went to Rose, staring in awe and wonder at the baby she held in her arms. Rose's heart nearly melted as she saw him look at Aurora, his eyes full of love and amazement. Rose held her out to him, and he looked at her hesitantly, before lifting his arms. She carefully placed her in his arms, and he watched his daughter with a mixture of surprise, curiosity and love.

A second later Aurora stopped crying, as she opened her deep brown eyes and reached out to her father.

"How the hell did he do that?" Jackie gasped, "we've been trying for six months to get her to stop crying and all he has to do is hold her!" she put her hands on her hips, but soon found herself smiling at them. The Doctor lifted one hand above Aurora, and she reached out to his index finger and held it tightly. He smiled in absolute ecstasy, and Rose didn't think she'd ever seen him so happy. He looked up at her with a childish delight on his face.

"Believe she's ours yet?" Rose asked with a smile.

"Yeah," he nodded, hardly believing he was saying it. "I don't know, or care how, but… she's a Time Lord," he said with a lopsided grin, "well," he interrupted himself, "Time Lady. Well… Time Tot." Rose looked at him with wide eyes as he looked back down at his daughter.

"Time _Tot_?" she gasped.

"Yeah, the status of Time Lord is sorta hereditary. If a Time Lord has a baby, they're called a Time Tot," the Doctor explained, still watching Aurora.

"That's so cute!" Rose laughed, "I love that, Time Tot," Rose smiled at Aurora, as the Doctor looked at her in curiosity.

"How old did you say she was? Six months?" he asked.

"Yeah," Rose answered, "why?" He looked up at her, with an expression she saw often on him.

"I wonder…" he said, as a smile grew on his lips.


	6. Time Tots and Torchwood

Ok, so this story sort of ignores Gridlock. And probably most subsequent episodes.

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who. Or part of one of the last sentances which I nicked from Hithhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

xxx

The Doctor sat on the floor in the centre of the living room, with Aurora sitting in front of him. He'd sent Jack and Martha to the TARDIS to find something that glowed or just generally looked alive. Rose sat on the sofa, watching them in curiosity, as Pete and Jackie were in another room looking after Jenna.

"Right!" The Doctor said excitedly, "let's see what you can do," he shifted slightly closer to her, as she watched him intently. He held up his hand. "How many fingers am I holding up?" he asked. She put her hand up too, holding up four fingers. "That's right," the Doctor said, "but can you say that?"

"She's only six months old," Rose interrupted, "you can't expect her to speak yet."

"Five!" Aurora answered, giggling. The Doctor gave Rose a smug grin as she stared at her daughter in amazement. He held up his hand again.

"Now how many fingers?" he asked.

"Three!" Aurora answered.

"Very good!" he encouraged, holding up his other hand. "Now how many?"

"Seven," she answered correctly.

"Well done!" he said with a smile, looking up at Rose. "Most Gallifreyan babies can speak as newborns, you know," he said.

"Maybe so, but remember she's only half Gallifreyan," Rose said.

"Quarter," the Doctor corrected quietly. "What's three times six?" he asked.

"Eighteen," Aurora answered.

"What about 259 times 445?"

"Oh come on you can't expect her to answer that!" Rose argued, but she was quickly proved wrong.

"115,225," Aurora answered quietly. The Doctor grinned at her.

"Well done!" he laughed, then looked up at Rose. "By the age of five Gallifreyan children can recite their 2,337 times table," he said proudly.

"But…" Rose said quietly, not entirely sure where to take her argument. "She's just six months old."

"And very smart for a six month old, don't you think?" the Doctor asked proudly. "You just haven't been giving her the right opportunities."

"But… but…" the Doctor sighed.

"Ok, we'll take it down a level or two, shall we?" he said, then turned back to Aurora. "Who's that?" he asked, pointing at Rose.

"Mummy!" Aurora answered with a laugh.

"Very good, and who's the evil witch in the other room?"

"Grandma."

"Ooh, she is smart." Rose decided not to get mad at the Doctor for calling her mother an evil witch. The Doctor paused, watching Aurora curiously. "Who am I?" he asked. Aurora stared at him for a few seconds, then looked over at Rose, then back at him. She started sucking on her fingers as she watched him. "I'm your daddy," he said finally. She continued to stare blankly at him. "We'll have to work on that," he muttered. Then he reached into his jacket and pulled something out. "Let's see what you make of this," he said, handing her the physic paper.

She turned it over and over a few times in her hand, looked up at the Doctor, then back at the paper. Rose shifted off the sofa and onto the floor to get a better look at what her daughter was doing. All she could see on the physic paper were random lines appearing and disappearing, squiggles swirling across the page. A second later, her eyes widened as the seemingly random lines and squiggles began to form a picture.

"Oh wow," she whispered.

"What's she doing?" The Doctor asked, unable to see the physic paper from his position. Aurora finished the picture, and gave the paper to Rose, who looked at it with a smile.

"She drew you," Rose said, turning the paper round to face him. Sure enough, on the paper was a line drawing of the Doctor. He grinned when he saw it, and looked at his daughter.

"Come here," he laughed, picking her up. She giggled as he hugged her affectionately. "Can she walk yet?" he asked unexpectedly.

"I don't know, I've never really given her the chance," Rose answered guiltily. The Doctor looked at Aurora with pity.

"Aw, no wonder you were always crying, probably bored stiff," he said to her, jigging her up and down, "I'll have to find you something fun to do with your time." He then stood up and carried her a few steps across the room.

"Knowing you, something 'fun' probably means an internal combustion engine," Rose muttered.

"Oh there's all sorts of fun you can have with an internal combustion engine," the Doctor replied, then put Aurora on the ground, standing her up. He then walked over and sat next to Rose. "Come on," he said, putting his arms out. She watched him for a second, before taking a hesitant step forward towards him. "That's it!" he encouraged with a grin as she walked towards him. When she reached him, he picked her up and held her in the air for a moment, then put her down in his lap. "See?" he said smugly to Rose.

"That's the weirdest thing I've ever seen," Rose marvelled.

"What? I've taken you to the far reaches of the galaxy and the weirdest thing you've ever seen is a baby walking? I'm insulted," he looked down at Aurora as she played with his finger.

"No I mean, she's only six months old, and she's walking and talking! It's weird."

"There's far more where that came from," the Doctor said, giggling himself as she put his finger in her mouth and sucked on it thoughtfully.

Suddenly a shrill ringing shocked them all as the Doctor's mobile phone went off. He awkwardly handed Aurora to Rose as he searched his suit for his phone. He quickly found it, looked at it, then held it to his ear.

"Jack!" he greeted.

"Doctor, hi," Jack's voice came, clearly audible from the phone. "I don't know exactly what you're expecting me and Martha to find here, but we've got nothing." The Doctor sighed and leant back, rubbing his eyes.

"You sure?" he moaned.

"Yep, positive," the Doctor sighed again.

"Fine, I'll be there soon," he said, then hung up.

"You can't go now!" Rose complained as the Doctor stood up.

"I don't have much choice, the longer I'm here the longer the Daleks are out of the void," he said as he headed across the room.

"WHAT?!" Rose shouted, and the Doctor spun round and looked at her slightly guiltily.

"I didn't tell you about that, did I?" he muttered awkwardly, and Rose shook her head. "I'll explain on the way back to the TARDIS," he said quickly.

xxx

The Doctor and Rose walked down the long driveway of the Tyler mansion, after dropping Aurora off with Jackie and Pete to look after. The Doctor hadn't wanted Aurora's first time in the TARDIS to be when the TARDIS was dead. After finally managing to get away from Jackie who was trying to convince him to meet Jenna, they managed to get away.

"Now tell me exactly what happened," Rose said angrily.

"It's not _that _bad, I can just go back to the same time that I left and take care of the Daleks, so they won't have been out for long," he said, trying to convince Rose to calm down.

"Did you open the void just to get back here?" Rose asked, unsure whether to be angry or flattered.

"No," he said quickly, "Well, not entirely. See, the Master came back and he had a Dalek with him. The black Dalek, it had escaped from when we sucked the rest of them into the void. Anyway, I think he was planning on kidnapping you to make me help him open the void, 'cause the Dalek had promised him more regenerations if he released the other Daleks. Stupid man, wouldn't believe me when I told him that the Daleks would kill him as soon as they got what they wanted. Anyway, when he realised you weren't there he tried to open the void anyway, and…" he paused, trying to think of an excuse for endangering thousands of lives just to get back to her. He stopped walking as a save of guilt suddenly washed over him. Rose seemed to notice this, and took his hand.

"Can't you just do what you said?" she asked, "Go back to just after you left and stop it all?" For a moment, the Doctor didn't answer.

"It's amazingly hard to navigate through the void," he muttered, "the chances I'd get it right are… slim," he ran a hand through his hair. "But that doesn't really matter yet because until we get the TARDIS working we're not getting back at all," he said and began walking again.

"Do you think we will be able to get it to work?" Rose asked.

"Should be able to, we could before," he answered, though they could both hear the doubt in his voice.

xxx

Soon after, they arrived at the TARDIS. They went through the doors and stood inside for a second as they let their eyes adjust to the lack of light.

"There you are!" Jack said, walking up to them, "hope you can find something 'cause we sure as hell can't." The Doctor nodded, and walked up to the consol.

Rose looked around herself with a smile. Even if it wasn't exactly how she remembered it, it felt amazing to be back in the TARDIS. She watched as the Doctor leant under the consol and looked through the wires below the floor. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and did a scan.

"Anything?" Rose asked, and he shook his head.

"Nothing," he muttered sadly.

"Isn't there anything else you can do?" Martha asked as the Doctor stood up. Rose eyed his latest companion. She knew that the Doctor would always love her and that she really shouldn't get jealous, but she couldn't help herself feel a little jealous. She thought back to when they'd met Sarah-Jane... she really did seem to be the jealous type.

"Well, there is one other possibility," the Doctor said, "but the chances of it happening are… astronomical."

"Well we might as well try," Martha said, "so what is it?" the Doctor looked up at his companions.

"If we can get a part from another TARDIS from this universe, we might be able to connect it up," he explained, "but the Time Lords are dead here, just like in our universe. So that's not going to happen." He sighed, searching his brain for another idea.

"Well," Jack said after a few moments, "it might happen." The three of them looked up at Jack. "I mean, like you said, chances are pretty slim, but today seems to be the day for impossible."

"What you talking about, Jack?" the Doctor asked. Jack gave them a grin, then walked out the TARDIS.

xxx

Once outside the TARDIS, Jack pulled out his phone, as the others joined him.

"Back in Torchwood," he explained, "I had a piece of a TARDIS growing in my office. If we're very very lucky, it might just be there in this reality," he dialled a number and held the phone to his ear.

"So what you're saying, is that we have to hope that you exist, you lived the same life, you met me and Rose despite the fact that neither of us appear to exist in this universe, you went through the same series of events that lead you to Torchwood and happen to have that bit of TARDIS?" the Doctor summarised. Jack looked at him.

"Like I said, if we're very, very lucky," Jack held his phone to his hear as it began to ring.

"Hello?" Jack grinned as he heard a familiar voice down the phone.

"Ianto!" he greeted, and the others listened to the one-sided conversation, "I don't suppose you know someone called Captain Jack Harkness?"

"Yes, he's sitting right behind me," Ianto answered sceptically, "who's this?"

"Bloody hell," Jack said, amazed at the fact that his parallel self did appear to have lead the same life. "Don't suppose I could talk to him?"

"Yes, who is this?" Ianto repeated. Jack grinned.

"I'm Captain Jack Harkness," he said cheekily. There was a pause on the other end.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Long story, just pass me onto Jack, would ya?" he heard a muffled conversation on the other end of the line, until his own voice came through the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hello sexy," Jack greeted himself.

"Well hello to you too," the other Jack greeted, "Past or future?"

"Parallel universe, actually," Jack answered, internally laughing at the question he'd always agreed to ask himself should he ever cross his own timeline.

"Ah, I see. How can I help you?"

"I was wondering if you happened to have a part of a TARDIS growing on your desk?" Jack asked, aware that if his parallel self didn't have it, it probably sounded like a really stupid question.

"Yes I do as a matter of fact." Jack could hardly believe he was hearing this. Of all the possibilities, they had just what they wanted.

"Bloody hell that's lucky," he muttered, as the three people around him gasped at the fact that, against all the odds, there actually was a parallel Jack with a part of a TARDIS. "Listen, I'm gonna need to come and get it."

"Can I ask why?"

"Long story, basically I've got a TARDIS here, and I need your part to get it working." There was a pause on the other end of the line.

"You have a _real TARDIS_?" parallel Jack gasped, and he had to laugh.

"Yeah, I travel with a Time Lord called the Doctor. Don't suppose you know him?"

"Never heard of him. But all the Time Lords in this universe are dead – guess they're not in your universe."

"Oh they are, the Doc's the last one. Anyway, we're kinda trapped hear until we can get his TARDIS working, and to do that we need a part of another TARDIS…"

The Doctor looked up to the sky suddenly, frowning thoughtfully. Jack's voice faded into the background as he stared upwards. He didn't know what, but he was sure he felt something. He stared upwards for a few more moments, until he was sure what he'd felt had just been his imagination, then looked over at Jack who was grinning as he hung up.

"We've got a trip to Cardiff!" he announced.

"How do we get to Cardiff?" the Doctor asked, failing to see anyway to get there quick enough.

"Train would be the fastest method," Martha answered. The Doctor looked as if he'd just been sentenced to death.

"Public transport…" he muttered, wrinkling his nose in disgust. "This is going to be a long journey."

xxx

Miles away, something fell through space, hurtling and plunging through the empty vacuum. It had been flying aimlessly through the universe for years, but finally it had something familiar to go to. Something that was attracting it. So it burned through space towards a small, utterly insignificant blue-green planet.

Straight towards the same thing it had been sent by – a TARDIS.


	7. Parallel Torchwood

Hooray, emails are working again! XD And so I will finally update.

Was I the only one that felt Daleks in Manhatten was a bit... odd? They shouldn't mess with the traditional Dalek... if the Daleks want to live, they should concentrate on getting every other Dalek out of the void. That way the Doctor would get Rose back the Daleks would be alive again and everyone would be happy :P

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who.

xxx

The Doctor stared out of the train window at the station. Around him, people were shuffling around trying to find seats, calling to each other and trying to put luggage in the holders about the seats. It was all painfully domestic.

Next to him sat Rose, and opposite them sat Jack and Martha. They'd managed to find a ticket on a middle class train to Cardiff that left the same day. Martha and Rose had been amazed they'd found a ticket, but the Doctor couldn't see what was so amazing – who else would want to catch the train to Cardiff?

"We'd be there by now if the TARDIS was working," he muttered, still staring out the window.

"Yeah, except we'd probably be there 100 years in the future," Rose added. The Doctor sighed and leant forward on the small table in front of them, then decided that wasn't comfortable after all and leant back in his seat. He looked up at the clock in the station, then looked at his own watch.

"We were meant to leave 10 minutes ago," he complained.

"Stop whining," Rose said, as if she was talking to a small child. The Doctor sighed again. Moments later, people finished moving through the train as they all found their seats, and the train began to go.

"We're moving!" The Doctor exclaimed, "It's about time." Rose just shook her head. She still couldn't believe the Doctor had actually agreed to go with them.

xxx

An hour later, and the Doctor was nearly asleep. He hadn't previously thought it was possible to die from boredom. Rose and Martha were obsessing about something they'd seen in a magazine, and Jack was busy doing something on his wrist device.

He looked over at his friends from where he was leaning against the window. They'd shifted places from where they'd started sitting, with Rose and Martha on one side of the table now. He shifted his position and leant back in the seat.

"You're awake!" Jack laughed, looking over at the Doctor.

"Of course I'm awake," he said, his tone reflecting how bored he was.

"Ah come on, it could be worse," Jack said enthusiastically, "at least we've got a way back now." The Doctor looked at him in mild disbelief.

"Why are you so happy?" he asked. Jack shrugged.

"No reason," he muttered. The Doctor looked up and saw sitting opposite them was a bunch of pretty young women in low-cut tops and miniskirts.

"Yeah, no reason at all," he muttered back. Jack couldn't help but smile. "I'm surprised you're not over there flirting with them," he commented.

"I could be," Jack retorted.

"Go on then," the Doctor dared, and Jack stood up and walked over to them. With a quick smile, he easily flirted his way in and was already sitting in the middle of the group. The Doctor shook his head. Oh well, it had freed up the seat next to him. He put his feet up and looked over at Rose and Martha who were still gripped by the magazine. He watched them for a few minutes, until Rose looked up at him.

"What?" she asked, clearly knowing he'd been watching them.

"Nothing," he said innocently. She gave him a disbelieving look. "What are you two reading about then?" he asked. Martha turned round the magazine to show him.

"This new make up range is £10 cheaper in this universe!" she exclaimed like it was a life or death situation.

"And this range of clothes comes out two months before us!" Rose complained, pointing at another section of the page. The Doctor looked at them like they were lunatics.

"You know, if you want cheap designer clothes, I could take you to Paragon 6. It's got huge markets and shops with the cheapest prices in the universe. Much better than Earth."

"That's not the point," Rose said, turning the magazine back round. The Doctor sighed, as she and Martha starting muttering amongst each other again.

Then he felt it again, just like before. He looked out the window at the sky, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. He lifted his feet off the seat and moved closer to the window, but whatever he'd felt was gone. But he'd definitely felt something, and whatever it was, it wasn't good.

xxx

Not long after, the four time travellers were walking through Cardiff. Jack had bid goodbye to his new friends, Rose and Martha had moved on from the magazine, and the Doctor was acting somewhat more alive now.

They walked across the Millennium Centre Square, looking over at the Millennium Centre and the huge water sculpture towering above them, water cascading downwards.

"Wow," Martha marvelled, looking up at the sculpture. "I've never been to Cardiff."

"I've only been once, with the Doctor," Rose said, leaning her head against the Doctor's arm as they walked hand in hand, "seems like ages ago now that we fought the Slitheen here. Well, I mean here in our universe. I keep forgetting we're not home…"

Martha walked away from the structure, and followed Rose and the Doctor towards the bridge. Jack was walking along, glancing down under the wooden floor, knowing that under there they were probably monitoring them on CCTV cameras deciding whether they can be trusted or not.

Then a thought struck him. He wandered over to a certain stone block as the others carried on walking past. He scanned the area with his wrist device, but it beeped negative. Disappointed, he sighed and walked off – he'd been rather fond of the invisible lift.

Jack quickly caught up with the others and led them round to the entrance to Torchwood. They walked through the doors into what looked like a small shop, but Jack knew better. He reached over the counter and pressed a button, and suddenly a wall lifted up, revealing a passageway. Jack grinned as he saw it, and led the others down the corridor. Martha looked around at the dark walls nervously, she knew she could trust Jack, but this all seemed very unnerving.

They walked into a lift, and waited as it descended through the floors. A few seconds later, it stopped and a door behind them opened. Jack smiled as he was met by the familiar Torchwood hub, but it didn't take long for him to notice the differences.

"Here they are!" came a voice from above. Jack looked up to see his parallel self walking down the steps to meet them. Scattered around the hub were Tosh, Ianto, Owen and someone he didn't recognise, but he decided it was best to ask later.

"Hello handsome," he said to the other Jack.

"Right back at ya," parallel Jack laughed.

As the two Jacks spoke, the Doctor glanced around at the alien artefacts, knowing instantly exactly what each one was. He glanced over at the table near the door, and was relieved to see that there was no hand in a jar there this time. When he'd seen his hand in the other Torchwood, he'd been a bit grossed out by it.

"Doctor!" he looked up at Jack who was calling for him, and walked over to them, "need you to check the TARDIS part's going to work," he explained, and the three of them walked up the stairs to Jack's office.

Rose and Martha looked around in amazement, Martha more so than Rose. Rose looked at the alien objects scattered around the hub, some of which she recognised, some she didn't. She looked around the hub in search of Gwen, but didn't see her. When she and the Doctor had found Jack they'd gone on their own little adventure with the Torchwood team, and she'd become quite good friends with Gwen. But now she couldn't see her anywhere, which disappointed her. She glanced up to Jack's office, hoping the TARDIS part here was enough to get their TARDIS working.

The Doctor inspected the lump of what looked like coral in his hands, turning it over and over as the two Jack's watched him. He put his glasses on and looked closely at it, ran the sonic screwdriver over it and even licked it.

"Yep, looks good to me," he said finally, putting it in his pocket.

"Great!" Both Jacks said at the same time, looking at each other slightly surprised, then walking out the office. The Doctor was about to follow them, when he heard a beeping noise from behind him. He glanced around at Jack's computer, as a light flashed on the monitor. He walked up to it and read the information that appeared on the screen, but just as suddenly as it started it stopped. Looking back to make sure no one was behind him, he pulled out the chair and sat at the computer.

xxx

"This is Toshiko, Owen, Ianto and Carys," parallel Jack said as he introduced each member of his team.

"This is Rose and Martha," Jack said, introducing his own friends. He then turned to his counterpart. "No Gwen then?" he asked.

"Who's Gwen?"

"Evidently not," he muttered. Both Jacks watched as the Torchwood team started talking to Rose and Martha. "So you've never met the Doctor?" Jack asked, lowering his voice slightly so the others didn't hear him.

"Nope, never even heard of him."

"So how did you get here?"

"Just travelling around, and I ended up here. Found out about Torchwood, and thought I'd help out."

"That's lucky."

"I take it you work at Torchwood in your universe?"

"Yeah, I do. Well, I did. I kinda left them to it when the Doctor came back. It was 'cause of the Doctor that I was working there actually, hoping that there was a way I could get back to him and Rose. If it wasn't for the Doctor I never would have ended up there," he looked at his parallel self thoughtfully, "did you really just happen to end up here?" he asked.

"Well… not exactly," he answered with a sigh. "If you must know, I'm here because I was drawn here."

"How?"

"I was in my ship, when suddenly something happened and I was thrown through time and ended up crashing in Cardiff. Turned out it was because of the rift. My ship was destroyed in the crash, and I was found my Torchwood. That was years ago. Since then I've been working for them, hoping to find a way back off the planet so I can go travelling again. But I don't know any more, I kinda like it here." Jack nodded as he took this in. It was very different to his own story of how he ended up at Torchwood, and he wasn't entirely sure how this Jack could have ended up with the part of a TARDIS that he did. Had it have been in his universe in his Torchwood, he wouldn't have let anyone have his TARDIS part so easily. But then again, he guessed that this Jack didn't have the emotional attachment to it that he did. He looked back down at the people below, then glanced round behind him, wondering where the Doctor had got to.

Before he could go and find out however, the Doctor suddenly appeared at his side.

"Right! Are we going?" he asked, clearly eager to leave.

"We just got here!" Jack complained.

"Yeah I know, and we've got what we want and we should probably be getting back." The Doctor began to run down the stairs, and the two Jacks followed him down.

Rose was talking to Owen and Carys about the differences between each Torchwood when the Doctor suddenly interrupted them.

"Hello, we're going now," he said cheerfully, "Come on."

"But we've only been here a few minutes!" Rose protested.

"And we've got what we want, so let's go," the Doctor said quickly. "Come on Martha." The two women sighed and said goodbye, as the four travellers left Torchwood.

xxx

Two hours later, they were finally back in London and heading for the TARDIS. As they reached it, Rose looked up at the sky, slightly worried about the fact that it was dark already.

"I should probably be getting home," she said, "Mum's probably mad at me for leaving Aurora with her all day." The Doctor was tempted to go with her and see his daughter again, but he had to take care of the TARDIS first.

"See you later then," he said, giving her a quick kiss on the lips before walking into the TARDIS. She quickly said bye to Jack and Martha, before heading back to her house.

Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor pulled some wires out from the consol and attached them to the piece of coral he'd taken out of his pocket. There was a small spark as the coral started glowing, and he grinned.

"It works!" He announced happily, "Brilliant! We'll just have to wait for about 24 hours for it to recharge…"

Just as he said that, the lights suddenly came on and the background noise came back. "That's interesting…" he muttered, quickly looking at the screen.

"So much for 24 hours," Martha said as the Doctor watched the screen.

"Ok, wasn't expecting that," the Doctor said thoughtfully.

"What happened?" Jack asked.

"While the coral had been in Torchwood, it had been getting energy from the rift, and all the energy had built up and up and so as soon as it connected to the TARDIS it released it all," he smiled at the screen, "that's handy."

"So we can just go now?" Martha asked, but the Doctor shook his head.

"The TARDIS may be alive, but we can't actually go anywhere, she still needs some time to charge up," he explained. He smiled to himself, stroking the side of the consol. Martha watched him oddly as he did this. He often did things like that with the TARDIS, and it really creeped her out.

"So how long do we have to wait?" she asked, and much to her relief he stopped stroking the TARDIS and looked at the screen.

"About a day," he answered, "but we can't do much till then. She hasn't even got enough power to perform a scan," he said the last sentence quieter, more to himself. "But till then," he said suddenly, "dunno about you two, but I'm going back with Rose," he looked up at them, "coming?"

"Might as well," Martha replied, shrugging. The Doctor walked towards the door with a grin on his face.

"Let's go then."

xxx

Rose sat on the sofa with a cup of tea in her hands. Jackie had given her a yelling at for leaving Aurora with her then disappearing for the rest of the day with no word as to where she was going. Rose said that she'd texted her, but Jackie insisted that she didn't get it. Rose couldn't be bothered with the argument.

Suddenly the doorbell went, and she put her tea on the table, stood up and went to the door. She was pleasantly surprised to see the Doctor there with Jack and Martha.

"That was quick!" she laughed, standing aside to let them in.

"I know," the Doctor said, "the TARDIS powered up better than I thought. We can't go yet, but should be able to within about a day."

"It's powered up already?" Rose asked as they walked to the living room.

"Yeah, but like I said, we can't leave yet." They walked into the living room, and each found a seat. "Now that it's powered up, I could bring Aurora onto the TARDIS," the Doctor said excitedly.

"I'm sure you could," Rose said, "but not now." The Doctor looked downcast.

"Why not?" he asked disappointedly.

"She's in bed," Rose said with a laugh.

"Oh, I see."

"Who is it, Rose?" Jackie asked as she walked into the living room, "Oh, it's them."

"You sound disappointed," the Doctor remarked.

"You couldn't have come back a couple of hours earlier, could you?" Jack complained, "your daughters been crying like there's no tomorrow! She wouldn't be quiet, I don't know what's wrong with her…" Jackie's voice seemed to fade away to the Doctor as his attention was taken to something else. It was that same feeling again. Now he knew that he couldn't be imagining it.

Suddenly he jumped off the sofa and ran through the room and out of the house.

Rose, Jackie, Jack and Martha stared after him bewilderment.

"Typical," Jackie muttered, "I start talking and he runs out of the room." Rose sighed and ran out after him.

xxx

Outside, the Doctor was staring out into the sky. He reached into his jacket and pulled out the sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the sky, then lowered it, frowning. Reluctantly, he put it back in his jacket and shoved his hands in his pockets, still looking upwards.

Rose walked up to him, careful not to surprise him, as he seemed to have all is concentration on the sky.

"You ok?" she asked, expecting him to be surprised she was there, but he just shook his head.

"There's something… I don't know," he replied. "I keep feeling something, and the feelings getting stronger and stronger."

"What do you think it is?"

"No idea," he ran a hand through his hair. "The sonic screwdriver can't pick it up, the TARDIS can't do a scan… I've got no way knowing."

"We can go to Torchwood, they might be able to do a scan, find out what it is," Rose suggested, but the Doctor shook his head.

"The computers in Cardiff's Torchwood picked it up at first, but when I tried to find out what it was, they denied its existence. Whatever it is, I think it's got some sort of device that erases any data of it from other machines that might pick it up. I'm just hoping that the TARDIS can pick it up because chances are it's going to have better technology on it."

"But if you can sense it, doesn't that make it… Time Lord?" Rose asked carefully, but once again the Doctor shook his head.

"Could be from any telepathic species. It could be sending out signals to the species that sent it, and I'm just picking up stray signals, but I can't make out what it's saying because it's not meant for me."

"Hang on… your saying you're telepathic?"

"Oh yes," he answered with a grin, "Which means I could be picking up stray signals from it if it's from a telepathic race," he rubbed the back of his neck, "it's probably just a piece of space debris… but it never seems to be that simple." Rose had to agree with that. "Oh well," he said, facing her, "I'll worry about it in the morning."

"That's not like you!" Rose laughed.

"No it's not, but there's nothing I can do about it now, is there? Besides…" he took her hand and placed a kiss on it, "I think there's something much more important I should be concentrating on tonight." Rose smiled as he put his free hand around her waist and pulled her closer, placing a kiss on her lips.

xxx

Martha looked out the window as the Doctor and Rose talked, both looking to the sky.

"Having fun?" Jack asked as he leant against the wall, glancing out the window.

"Do you think we should go out there?" she asked, still watching the couple outside.

"Nah, knowing them they'll start snogging any second now," Jack replied. Just as he said that, the Doctor took Roses hand and put his arm round her waist. "Oh look, what did I say?" Martha looked away as they began to kiss, and walked away from the window into the room. Jack followed her as she folded her arms and rubbed her upper arms with her hands. "You ok?" he asked, walking next to her.

"Yeah," she said quickly.

"What's wrong?" Jack asked in a no-nonsense tone.

"I just… I dunno. I feel so out of place here," she replied, looking around the room nervously.

"Aah, don't feel like that," Jack said, putting his arm around her. She smiled as she leant into him. They stood like that for a few silent moments.

"Jack?" Martha asked quietly.

"Yeah?"

"Who are Eta and Deb?" For a moment Jack didn't answer.

"Where'd you hear about them?" he asked.

"When we were outside Canary Warf. You mentioned them."

"Oh yeah," Jack remembered, but didn't answer at first. "They were a couple, human and a Time Lord, they had a son," he answered finally.

"What happened to him?" Martha asked, thinking that maybe if he was half human he wouldn't have been in the Time War.

"He… died in the war," Jack answered quietly. "Anyway come on, we'd better be getting back to the TARDIS," he said quickly, trying to change the subject, "I expect the Doctor and Rose are going to want to be left alone." Martha sniggered as they both walk through the room and he lead her out the back door, so that they didn't interrupt what was going on outside.


	8. Wonders of the TARDIS

Sorry for the long update, you can blame that on homework, revision and sudden plot changes. But here is the next chapter at last!

At points this seems a bit Casanovaesque (which I now declare officially a word) with the Doctor and his daughter. When writing for something which also happens to have the same actor with a very similar character in the same situation in another show it can be hard not to make what you're writing disturbingling similar.

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who. Or Casanova. How depressing.

xxx

_People running screaming through the streets, crying and wailing as everything falls apart around them._

_It's happening again. In the sky the flying robots, the bringers of death, are shooting lasers at the helpless people below. Dying screams are all that is heard against the metallic cries of 'exterminate!'_

_Running desperately through the crowded streets, jumping to avoid the deadly lasers, as people fall to their deaths from all around. Skidding to a stop, numbed by fear, looking into the deadly blue light, the cold voice shouting 'exterminate' the last thing heard before there is nothing but pain…_

The Doctor woke with a start, gasping for breath. He shook his head, trying to ignore the dream as the dying cries of people echoed in his head. He'd endangered millions of lives, killed thousands of people, and why? To get back to Rose…

He felt her breathing against his body, her chest rising and falling against his. She slept peacefully, a small smile still on her face from the night before. Holding her tighter, he gently ran his hands over her back, their bare skin touching, hers hot against his. His hands came up to her face, where he gently rested his hand, lightly caressing her cheek. He watched her for a few more moments, as she slept soundly. Finally, he placed a kiss in her forehead, and shifted out of the bed.

Rose groaned quietly as her consciousness gradually returned, bringing with it memories of last night. She smiled to herself reaching out to the Doctor, but finding nothing. One eye fluttered open only just enough to see the empty bed. She rubbed here eyes and tried to sit up, her head spinning slightly.

"You're awake then," she heard a familiar voice say, and she noticed for the first time a figure next to the bed. Blinking, she tried to focus on him, and saw that he was getting dressed, pulling his trousers up but still topless.

"What're you doing?" she mumbled, glancing over at the clock next to the bed. When she saw the time, she pulled the covers over her head and buried herself in the bed. "It's 6:30!" she complained, her voice muffled through the sheets.

"You don't have to get up," the Doctor said, pulling his shirt on. She poked her head out from the covers, frowning at him.

"Why are you up?" she asked, trying to sit up again, holding the covers around her body.

"I have to go see if the TARDIS is working yet," he said as he began to button up his shirt, "I have to get back and stop the Daleks."

"But you said it would be 24 hours," Rose argued, wiping the hair from her face, "and you can't navigate through the void anyway so it doesn't matter when you leave." The Doctor looked over at her for a moment, then carried on doing up his shirt. "Come back to bed," she pleaded, patting the space next to her, "Please." He looked over at her again as she gave him puppy dog eyes, and he sighed. He could never say no to her when she did that.

She smiled as he walked over and sat on the bed, shifting over to him. As he sat down, she put a hand round the back of his neck and kissed him. She pulled away smiling, but he was staring downwards, looking solemn. "What's wrong?" she asked, "You're not still feeling guilty, are you?" he opened his mouth to say something, but couldn't seem to think of anything to say. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a hug. He lifted his arms to hug her back, but they were suddenly interrupted by a muffled crying.

Rose leant back, sighing. "That would be Aurora," she muttered, "her bedroom's next door." Rose pushed herself across and out of the bed and began to get dressed.

"Next door?" the Doctor muttered to himself, "hope she didn't hear us…" Rose sniggered as she pulled some clothes on, and the Doctor carried on getting dressed himself.

xxx

Rose sat at the kitchen table with a bottle in her hand feeding Aurora as the Doctor struggled to make breakfast. Cooking was never exactly his strong point.

He ran across the room to pull the burnt toast out of the toaster as the fried eggs spat and fizzled on the cooker. He leapt back across the room to turn the cooker off, knocking a carton of orange juice over in the process, which he then tried to pick up and managed to drop the toast while doing so.

Rose laughed out loud as he looked around at what was left of the kitchen.

"Why couldn't you just ask for cereal?" he complained, dropping the black toast on the side and searching for a towel to mop up the spilt juice.

"You'd probably be able to set cereal on fire somehow," Rose said through her laughs as the Doctor began to wipe up the juice. There was a splat as an egg rolled off the counter and hit the floor.

"Oh bloody hell," the Doctor muttered.

"Oi! Language in front of the baby," Rose warned, trying not to laugh. He walked across the room to grab some kitchen paper and knocked the frying pan, sending the fried eggs to the floor. He spun round to try and catch the frying pan, slipped on the egg he'd gone to clean up and went crashing to the floor himself.

Rose burst out laughing, shaking her head. Jackie came running into the room at the sound of the crash the Doctor made as he fell over, to find him sitting on the floor wiping fried egg from his face.

"What the hell are you doing?!" she gasped, looking at the wreck that used to be her kitchen.

"Making breakfast," the Doctor muttered, pushing himself to his feet.

"You're a disaster waiting to happen," Jackie muttered, grabbing a towel and kitchen paper and cleaning up the mess he'd made.

"I think it's already happened," Rose said as he walked towards the table and sat in the chair next to her.

"Told you not to ask me to cook," he muttered, pulling his converse off and wiping the egg off it with a piece of kitchen roll.

"It was worth it," she laughed. She lifted Aurora to her shoulder and put the empty bottle on the table.

"I'm much better at saving the world from aliens," the Doctor said dejectedly.

"You are very good at that, yes," Rose said, patting Aurora on the back, "but by 900 I would have expected you to be able to make egg on toast." He folded his arms.

"Can we go back to the TARDIS now?" he asked, watching Jackie clean up his mess.

"I suppose so," Rose replied, "better get out of here before mum kills you."

"I heard that!" Jackie's voice came from behind the counter. The Doctor laughed and jumped up, grabbing an apple as he passed the fruit bowl.

"Here Rose, have fruit for breakfast," he said, tossing it to her. He then noticed something. "Ooh, bananas," he said as he picked on off of the bunch and peeled it.

"You're obsessed," Rose muttered as she stood up, taking a bite of her apple. They headed for the door, but Jackie stopped them.

"Don't go wandering off again," she said, "at least tell me if you're going somewhere."

"Mum, I told you last time. We'll see you later, yeah?" she gave Jackie a quick hug, then waved bye as they walked out the room.

xxx

As they reached the TARDIS, Aurora looked at the blue box curiously. The Doctor smiled to himself as he opened the door and walked in.

Rose carried Aurora in, and as she did, Aurora looked around herself with wide eyes, gurgling and laughing to herself.

"Wow, she likes it in here," Rose commented, looking down at her daughter.

"Not surprised," the Doctor said as he walked up to the consol, "she feels right here. She's lived her whole life without the presence of the Time Lords, and while she never knew what it was like to have them there, it feels like there's something wrong. Something missing. That's why she was always crying, she never felt quite right." He looked at the screen, reading the information on it. Rose hugged her daughter slightly tighter, trying to say sorry for never knowing what was wrong.

"Right," the Doctor said, standing back from the screen, "follow me," he began to walk out of the room.

"Why? Where are you going?" Rose asked as she walked after him.

"I'm going to finally find out how you got pregnant," he said, walking out the door.

xxx

Rose sat on a bed in the med bay, as the Doctor scanned her with his sonic screwdriver. The last time they'd done this was just before they'd been separated… it seemed like so long ago now.

The Doctor stopped scanning her, and turned to Aurora who was sitting next to her. He ran the screwdriver over her, then over Rose again. He then went over to a computer and whirred the screwdriver at it, as the computer downloaded and analysed the data. He then stood up and pulled a machine over towards Rose.

"What is that?" Rose asked suspiciously as he pulled a small hand-held device off it.

"A scanner," he said, adjusting some of the dials on it, "it's slightly more powerful than the sonic screwdriver." He ran the device over Rose's body, frowning intensely. "Just before you got pregnant, were you exposed to any sort of radiation?" he asked as he ran the device round her stomach, "Anything out of the ordinary? Probably at Torchwood."

"Uum…" Rose tried to think back to what she was doing before she got pregnant, it seemed like so long ago now. "Oh!" she shouted suddenly as she remembered, and the Doctor looked at her eagerly, "Something had just fallen to Earth, some sort of alien machine. I was on the team that was to find out what it was and what it could be used for. But they started to detect it was emitting some sort of alien radiation, so it was locked up in a safe. Nothing happened to us and it was assumed the radiation was harmless." The Doctor watched her for a moment, thinking this through.

"Harmless maybe," he said thoughtfully, "But I think it was that radiation that made you pregnant."

"But… how?" the Doctor went back to the computer and Rose watched him.

"I think…" the typed on the futuristic keyboard, and it beeped. "Aha!" he announced, standing up and walking back to Rose, "that radiation was Phleroic, it's a certain type of radiation. But it reacted with your body, mixed the Time Lord DNA with human DNA and boom," he picked up Aurora and grinned, "one baby!" He looked at Aurora and smiled at her as she giggled. Rose jumped off the bed and stood next to the Doctor, watching with a smile as he played with Aurora.

xxx

The Doctor once again sat on the floor opposite Aurora in the TARDIS control room, as Rose sat watching on the seat. The Doctor had numerous TARDIS parts scattered around him, and was showing each of them to Aurora in turn.

"And this one…" he picked up a largish orange object that was shaped like a swirl, "is a time warp generator. It generates the time warps the TARDIS needs to travel through time." He explained, as Aurora watched him looking surprisingly interested. He put it to the side and picked up another object.

"This," he said, looking at the small black device in his hand, "is the internal power regulator, it distributes the TARDIS's power to different functions." He looked at it thoughtfully, turning it over in his hands. "We had a hell of a time trying to get hold of this thing, ended up nearly dying over it," he said, his mind lost in thought. "Gotta say, when I got it, I never quite thought I'd be showing it to my daughter." He and Rose chuckled as he put it back in the pile. He was about to find another one, when the lights began to flicker.

"What happened?" Rose asked, looking around the room. The Doctor sucked in through his teeth.

"The TARDIS probably isn't too happy about having half her parts missing," the Doctor muttered, then grinned, "I'll show Aurora how to connect them!" he said excitedly, picking her up and sitting her next to the consol where he'd removed the grating. He began to talk her through how to reconnect the parts, and Rose watched despite the fact that most of what he was saying meant very little to her.

A few minutes later, the Doctor had reconnected all the parts. "That's better," he said, replacing the grating. He then stood up and picked Aurora up with him. "Let's show you some of the controls, shall we?" he said, as he began to walk around the TARDIS. "That's the dimensional stabilizer, that's to activate and deactivate the buffers, that's the vortex tracker, that's the temporal destination input…" Rose watched as he pointed out each control and said what it was, all the way around the consol. Most of them meant very little or nothing to her, but she couldn't imagine they meant much more to Aurora, not at this stage in her life anyway.

Then she began to think. What were they going to do? When he got the TARDIS working, would they be able to go travelling again? They'd hardly be able to take Aurora with them, not at this age. A bit older perhaps, but what would they do until then? She could hardly imagine the Doctor settling down for a few years until she was old enough, and even then would it be safe enough to bring her as a child? And when he did get the TARDIS working, she'd have to decide which universe to stay in, they couldn't exactly pop from one to the other. Usually she'd stay with the Doctor without a second thought, but what about Aurora?

The Doctor seemed to notice Rose was troubled by something, and he stopped talking and sat next to her, with Aurora in his lap.

"What's wrong?" he asked, lifting a hand to her face. He lifted her chin to look at him.

"It's just… what are going to do?" she asked nervously, "When the TARDIS is working, then what? Are we going to take Aurora with us, are you going to settle down or what?" she watched the Doctor, as he looked down thoughtfully.

"I don't know," he answered finally.

xxx

Martha wandered through the TARDIS corridors in search of Jack. She'd dressed in jeans, a top and her leather jacket and had a sneaking suspicion that Jack probably wasn't even awake yet.

As she neared the consol room, she heard the Doctor's voice floating down the corridor, sounding excited as he spoke a load of technical gibberish. His voice became clearer as she got closer, and she could hear what he was saying.

"…That's the vortex tracker, that's the temporal destination input, this little button here is the time eddy locator, that lever makes the TARDIS go faster and can break the time limit… almost killed us doing that once, that's the year selector, that's…" he stopped talking as she reached the door, and she paused before she opened it. The next thing she heard him say held nothing of his former enthusiasm. "What's wrong?"

"It's just… what are we going to do?" she heard Rose ask nervously, "When the TARDIS is working, then what? Are we going to take Aurora with us, are you going to settle down or what?" There was a pause, and Martha knew that this wasn't a good time to go in. She knew she should probably walk away now, but she couldn't help curiosity get the better of her and she stood as still and silent as she could, listening to their conversation…

"I don't know," the Doctor answered finally. "We can't take her with us travelling, it's too dangerous."

"That's what I thought," said Rose, nodding, "so what are you going to do? Settle down or something?"

"I guess I'll have to," the Doctor answered, taking a deep breath.

"You'd do that?" Rose asked with a smile, "for us?" he looked at her.

"Of course I would!" he said with a laugh, "I'd do anything for you, you know that," he said sincerely. Rose smiled.

"Yeah," she said quietly. The Doctor smiled back, then looked down at Aurora.

"I don't know exactly how I'm going to do it, but I'm going to give her a good childhood, just like she deserves. I had a rubbish childhood, I was alone and abused and for the latter of it I had to fend for myself on the streets. But not her. I'm going to give her everything I didn't have – she's going to have parents and she's going to grow up loved and protected. And if that means I have to settle down then I don't care." Rose stared at him, as a smile crept onto her face. Then she pulled him into a kiss. "Well what did you expect?" he asked when they parted, "me to just go off and leave you?"

"Never," she said, kissing him again. The Doctor thought of something, and he turned to face her.

"How did you survive childbirth?" he asked, "I mean… Deb didn't."

"You're still calling her Deb."

"Of course I am what do you want me to call her?"

"She wanted you to call her mum."

Martha gasped, and quickly covered her mouth hoping she wasn't heard. Deb was the Doctor's mother? But didn't that make him… half human?

"I know she did. Now how did you survive childbirth?" Rose shook her head in defeat.

"I don't know. I guess it helps giving birth do a more human baby."

"Evidently," the Doctor said, pulling her into a hug, "or maybe it's 'cause you're so brilliant." She giggled as he pressed a kiss of her forehead.

They were interrupted by a beeping from the consol, which quickly stopped when they looked over at it. The Doctor frowned, and leant forward, pressing a button. The consol beeped again, but nothing came on screen. His frown intensified, and he handed Aurora to Rose and walked to the screen. He pressed a few buttons, but it beeped negative.

"That's really weird," he muttered, staring at the blank screen.

"Is it what you felt before?" Rose asked, "Last night, when you said it erased any information a computer held on it?" the Doctor watched the screen for a few seconds, deep in thought.

"Partly," he answered finally.

"What's the other part?" Rose asked nervously. The Doctor stared at the screen for a few moments as symbols appeared on it.

"That's not good," he said quietly, fiddling with some buttons, "not good at all."

"What? What is it?" Rose asked urgently, standing up and joining the Doctor by the consol.

"The TARDIS hasn't powered up any more at all since last night," he said, "it should have done… what's stopping it?" he jumped under the consol and started fiddling with some wires.

As he did so, Rose's phone went off. She looked at the screen that said 'one message received'. She pressed the open button, and read the one word on screen: Torchwood.

"I've got to go," she said quietly. The Doctor poked his head out from under the consol.

"Why?" he asked.

"Something's happening at Torchwood," Rose explained.

"They've probably noticed us here," the Doctor said, leaning back into the wires.

"Whatever it is I have to go," Rose said, putting Aurora on the seat.

"You can't just leave her there," the Doctor said as Rose walked to the door.

"Well I can't take her with me!" Rose complained. The Doctor looked up at Aurora as she began to crawl around the seat.

"I wonder if Martha's any good with babies…" he muttered, pulling himself out from the consol.

"I'll see ya later, yeah?" Rose said as she reached the door.

"Bye," the Doctor said as he waved to her, picking up Aurora. Rose waved back and walked outside. The Doctor began to walk to the door, unaware of the fact that Martha was quickly running down the corridor.

xxx

The Doctor walked through the corridors and found Martha walking round a corner. He called her name and ran up to her.

"Martha!" She turned to face him and he carried on not noticing her slightly breathless state, "You any good with babies?"

"Er…"

"Good!" he turned around and started to head back to the control room, "come on!"

xxx

Martha sat on the seat in the control room with Aurora in her lap, watching the Doctor work under the consol.

"What are you doing?" she asked after a few moments of silence.

"Trying to find out what's wrong with the TARDIS," he answered, "she's not powering up properly and I think she must be broken. Unless…" he stopped as a new though struck him, and he instantly jumped out from the wires and looked at the screen again.

"What?" Martha asked as he read through the information.

"Unless someone or something's stopping it," he said thoughtfully, "sucking the power…" he frowned as he thought through this possibility, "but if they wanted to suck the power, why not just take all of it? Why leave the TARDIS still alive? She's still powering up, just very slowly," he paused again, licking his lips, "unless it is just that the TARDIS is broken," he said, going back under the consol. Martha shifted in her seat. She was still thinking about what the Doctor had said about his childhood, and as much as she wanted to, she knew better than to ask about it. Instead she asked about something else she wasn't meant to know about.

"Where's Rose gone?"

"Torchwood," the Doctor answered, "She works there and apparently something's happened." Martha shifted again, ignoring Aurora as she played with her finger, and instead wondered what Rose was doing.

xxx

"It was falling to Earth, so we sent out gravitational waves and attracted it here," Yvonne explained as she led Rose up the stairs.

"Ok, great, but what exactly is it?" Rose asked, trying to sound professional as she always did at Torchwood.

"Well that's the point. We have no idea."

"You must have some idea. Is it a ship, a machine, what?"

"We don't know," Yvonne said slowly, pronouncing every word. "It's weird, we've never seen anything like it. Our computers pick it up and display its mass, heat, everything like that – then they just forget. Refuse to acknowledge its existence. Then, ten minutes later, they pick it up again, then forget it. But even the readings they were picking up can't possibly be correct. They say it's emitting some sort of radiation but we don't know what. They say its heat and mass are too high to be measured. But it's not hot – we can get near it and feel it's not hot. At least, it's not giving off heat."

"Has anyone touched it?"

"One person. But I wouldn't advise touching it, the person that did touch it… died." Rose stopped where she was walking.

"What? How?" Yvonne shrugged.

"He just sort of… disintegrated," she answered sadly, "he started glowing gold, then turned to dust. So don't touch it," she turned around and started walking again. Rose hesitantly followed her.

"Here we are," Yvonne said, stopping in front of a door. "Prepare yourself," she then pushed the door open, and Rose walking in after her.

When she saw what was in the room, her eyes widened and she gasped in sheer amazement.


	9. Long Lost Message

Sorry for the long update, I'll try to be quicker next time.

Jack's back! Can't wait until the next episode (two weeks?! This is an outrage!!), but in the Radio Times it said he was back in episode 9. Confusing. Only time will tell...

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who.

xxx

Rose couldn't believe her eyes. For a second she didn't believe them and had to blink several times before staring at it again.

What she saw in front of her wouldn't have been so amazing to most people; they'd comment that there was some clever light reflections going on in the middle then move on. But she knew better.

What she was looking at was a small sphere slightly smaller than a football, made of what looked like glass. The surface seemed so shimmer and sparkle as if it was a drop of water suspended in the air. But it was what was inside the sphere that amazed her most.

In the centre was a golden light, small rays sparkling like glitter. She recognised it instantly. It was the time vortex.

She didn't know how, but she seemed almost attracted to it. As if she recognised it. In a way, she supposed she did, after absorbing the time vortex all those years ago. All she remembered of that time was a bright golden light, just like what was inside the ball. Before she could stop herself, she was walking forward towards it, as if hypnotised. She stopped in front of it, staring into the very centre of the ball.

"Don't touch it," one of the scientists reminded her, but she wasn't listening. She already knew she shouldn't touch it, but she couldn't seem to stop herself as she found her hands reaching out towards it…

xxx

Martha sighed. The Doctor was still working underneath the consol, muttering things to himself under his breath every now and again. She bobbed Aurora on her knee as she gurgled quietly to herself. Martha had given up playing with her, as the fact that whenever she spoke to her Aurora tended to speak back and a talking six month old had started to creep her out. She sighed again.

"OW!" The Doctor suddenly shouted, shaking his hand and put a finger in his mouth as the wires he was fiddling with sparked and burnt his skin. "That's it I give up," he sighed, pulling himself out. He stood next to the consol and ran a hand over the surface. "What's wrong with you, old girl?" he said quietly, looking at his ship in worry.

"Maybe it's just 'cause we're in a parallel universe," Martha suggested, "you said the TARDIS won't work properly."

"I know, but…" he trailed off, shaking his head. "I dunno," he ran his hand through his hair. Just as his hand reached the back of his neck, he looked around slowly. "What's that…?" he said as his eyes flicked around the room.

"What?" Martha asked, also looking around. She looked back at the Doctor as he began to frown intensely. Aurora stopped gurgling. "Doctor, what is it?" she asked nervously.

xxx

Rose couldn't stop herself as her hands rested gently on the sides of the orb.

xxx

The Doctor and Aurora suddenly screamed out in pain, so suddenly that Martha nearly fell off the chair. The Doctor fell to his knees clutching his head, crying out in agony, as if being tortured by an unseen enemy.

"What the hell?!" Martha gasped, as she fell to her knees in front of him, holding Aurora close to her body. She was at a complete loss for what to do.

xxx

Rose cried out as her heard flung backwards and her vision was filled with distorted images. Vague sounds filled her mind, people crying and screaming, the sound of ships and explosions, voices talking in hushed tones. She saw fire and death, a black sky filled with ships, people talking with each other. The voices became more urgent, but she couldn't make out what they were saying. She saw people in long robes mixed with others running across a war-torn desert within an inch of their lives, she saw ships burning and crashing in the sky and rips in time itself.

Then, just as suddenly as it started, it was over. She fell backwards onto the floor gasping and reeling, her head spinning. Above her she saw the orb, the inside glowing brightly, then dimming down again. People gathered around her firing questions that she couldn't understand. She felt light-headed and was overcome by dizziness, and everything faded as she fell backwards and lost consciousness.

xxx

The Doctor and Aurora stopped screaming suddenly. Martha stared in confusion as the Doctor collapsed in front of her. She put Aurora, who was still crying but not screaming, on the ground and crawled to the Doctor's side but found that he was still conscious.

"What happened…?" he gasped, trying to focus on Martha.

"I was going to ask you that!" she replied, helping him sit up. He rubbed his head blearily. Everything seemed to be spinning, and he shook his head violently. Then he looked up, alert.

"That's not good," he muttered, before jumping up.

"I could have guessed that," Martha said, picking Aurora up as she joined him by the consol. He looked at the screen as symbols appeared on it, twisting and rotating. "So what was it?" Martha asked, trying to comfort Aurora.

"I don't know," he replied thoughtfully, "but whatever it was it's very very bad."

xxx

Rose sat in a chair, shaking slightly, staring at the orb in the centre of the room. She'd quickly regained consciousness, but had refused to answer any questions. She was still trying to piece together what she'd seen and make any sense of it.

She looked up suddenly as the door opened, and Mickey walked into the room.

"Rose!" he said, running up to her and grabbing a chair, "you ok? What happened?" he asked as he sat next to her. For a moment she didn't answer, and continued to stare at the sphere.

"There was… these voices and…" she paused, and stared at him for a moment. "Oh my god you don't know do you?" she said suddenly.

"I know you touched the orb thing and-"

"No no not that," she interrupted, beginning to smile, "he came back," she said happily, "the Doctor, he found a way back through!" she laughed as Mickey stared at her in disbelief.

"You're kidding me," he said, and she shook her head. "How'd he get through? He said it was impossible."

"He's said that before," Rose replied.

"So why isn't he here now then?" Mickey asked.

"He's fixing the TARDIS…" Rose replied distractedly, looking back at the orb. "I should tell him," she said distantly.

"You haven't told me yet," Mickey complained. Rose bit her lip.

"I don't really know how to describe it," she said. She then reached into her pocket and pulled out the phone, selected a number then held it to her ear, looking back at the orb. Mickey sighed and leant back in his chair.

"It's always him, isn't it?" he muttered, but Rose didn't hear.

"Doctor!" she said suddenly as he answered his phone, "you've got to come down here! … No, I don't care you… but something really weird just happened! … This is worse … I can't really describe it, but…" she lowered her voice, making sure that no one else could hear, "I think it's something to do with the Time War," she said quietly. There was a pause, before she smiled and hung up the phone.

xxx

The Doctor stopped searching the TARDIS for answers as his phone rang.

"Not now," he muttered, holding it up to his hear. "Rose! … I can't, I'm busy … Rose, just stop … something really weird just happened to me too! … well what happened?" there was a pause, as his expression changed from anger to realisation. "I'll be right there," he said, hanging up. "I've got to go to Torchwood," he said, facing Martha.

"What? Why?" she demanded.

"Something's happened, you stay here with Aurora," he ordered, walking around the consol and grabbing his coat, "go find Jack or something," he put his coat on and headed for the doors.

"But what if that happens again?" Martha asked as he reached the doors.

"Then I'll be tortured in Torchwood," he said, opening the doors, "oh I like that," he said, pausing, "tortured in Torchwood," he gave her a grin, the pulled the door fully open. "Bye," he waved, then went outside as the doors closed after him.

xxx

Rose watched the doors eagerly waiting for the Doctor. She'd cleared it with security to let him through and it was now jut a matter of time. Mickey was sitting next to her, waiting patiently, as usual.

Yvonne grabbed a chair and put it next to Rose sitting on it.

"So?" she asked, "what happened?" Rose shifted uncomfortably. She wanted to wait for the Doctor before she told anyone, just to know for sure what she'd seen was real.

"I don't really know…" she said quietly, "What did you see?"

"We saw you touch the orb, then… there was this light. Bright, yellow light coming from the orb, and it spread across you, like you were glowing. You were screaming in pain but we couldn't get near you," Yvonne explained. Rose nodded slowly, looking back at the orb.

Just at that point, the Doctor came bursting into the room. Rose grinned as she saw him, but his attention was on the orb.

"Oh I don't _believe _it!" he exclaimed, running up to the orb. The scientists watched him in confusion as he put his glasses on and walked around the sphere, inspecting it. He frowned intensely as he whirred the sonic screwdriver at it. He then put the screwdriver away, and wiped his glasses off. He looked up at Rose who was walking up to him. "Did you touch it?" he asked.

"Um… yeah," she answered somewhat hesitantly. He nodded and looked back at the orb.

"Thought so," he said quietly, then looked back up again. "It's Mickey!" he announced with a grin, "good to see ya."

"You too," Mickey replied, and the Doctor's attention was instantly back on the orb. He walked up to it until his face was inches away, and stared at it.

"Tell me everything you know about it," he said to no one in particular. Before Rose could answer, Yvonne stepped forward.

"It fell to Earth and we sent out gravitational waves to attract it here. It was coming from the direction of the sun or more specifically Venus. The few readings we can get say it's emitting an unknown radiation, it has a very high heat and mass, even though we can't feel any heat coming off it and the machines can lift it easily. But these are only rough readings because as soon as the computers register it, any data on it is then erased as if it's giving off some sort of virus."

"Just like in Cardiff," the Doctor said quietly to himself.

"The first person to touch it started glowing and disintegrated, we had no way of saving him," Yvonne continued sadly, "Rose managed to touch it and she survived, but we don't know how," she stopped, and folded her arms as she looked at the Doctor, "and who are you?" she asked.

"I'm the Doctor," he answered, briefly looking up at her then back at the orb. "Nice to see you again Yvonne." She frowned at him.

"I'm sorry do I know you?" she asked in confusion.

"Nah, doesn't matter, don't mind me," he said suddenly, moving away from the orb.

"So? What do you make of it?" Yvonne asked. The Doctor continued to stare at it for a long moment, lost in thought.

"Well, it shouldn't exist for one," he said finally, taking a deep breath and putting his hands in his pockets. "It should have died along with everyone else," he added sadly.

"Who?" Yvonne asked.

"The Time Lords," the Doctor answered.

"It's Time Lord?!" Rose gasped in disbelief. The Doctor sucked in through his teeth as he walked around the orb.

"It's a sort of communication device, used for sending messages that only Time Lords can read. It's made by physically duplicating parts of the vortex that are wanted. That's what you can see in there, that light. It's read by touching it, the person would get visions of the message. They were used in the Time War to stop the Daleks from reading the messages as they can only be read by someone with Time Lord DNA in them, otherwise whoever tried to read it would die."

"But I touched it and I'm still alive," Rose said, "I saw all these images but I couldn't make out what they were."

"The message would have been garbled because you're not a Time Lord, it would be too much for your brain to take."

"But hang on, I touched it and I'm still _alive_. Shouldn't I have died?" the Doctor turned around to face her, thinking through the possibilities.

"Looks like you've got Time Lord DNA in you," he said thoughtfully, "I mean I only have to kiss you and you'll have trace amounts of DNA on you. But that shouldn't have been enough, you still should have died…" he looked back at the orb. "That person that died, what happened to them?"

"They started to glow bright gold then disintegrated," Yvonne answered. The Doctor said nothing for a moment, deep in thought.

"Just like Bad Wolf," he said finally.

"What?" Rose asked. He looked up at her.

"When you killed the Daleks, they glowed and disintegrated. You'd absorbed the time vortex, and that's basically what this is," he turned back to the orb. "Maybe…" he leaned in closer, "it could sense that. Maybe somehow it knew and that's why you're still alive…" he trailed off in thought, then stood back up again. "Did you know when you touched it that someone had died?" he asked Rose, who nodded. "Then why the hell did you touch it?!" he demanded.

"I don't know! It just sorta felt… right," she looked at the Doctor desperately trying to get him to understand what she meant. "Like I was meant to touch it."

"Like it was calling to you," he suggested.

"Yeah, just like that!" He nodded and looked back at it.

"I know the feeling," he said, folding his arms. "It's calling to me because I'm a Time Lord. Maybe it had a similar effect on you because you'd absorbed the vortex," he took a small step closer towards it, and lifted his hands.

"Don't touch it!" Yvonne warned, and he looked up at her.

"I'm a Time Lord, I'll be fine," he said with a grin, then looked back at the orb as he placed his hands on it's surface.

Suddenly his mind was filled with images and sounds, people talking, screaming, crying. Desperate voices ran through his head as his vision was blurred with images of an all-too-familiar war.

Bystanders could only stare in awe as the Doctor's body started to light up. But this time it was different, not a bright, violent light, but a dim glow, calm over his body. He didn't scream in pain like the others who had touched it did, he simply stood with his eyes closed, as the gold light inside the orb glowed peacefully with him.

Then suddenly it was over as he pulled his hands off and looked down at it.

"That's not good," he muttered.

"What? What did you see?" Rose asked.

"Nothing recognisable… nothing I could make sense of…" he ran his hand through his hair."I need to get it back to the TARDIS, maybe then I can fix it and see what it's trying to say."

"How are you going to do that if you can't touch it without seeing stuff?" Rose asked.

"Easy, I just need to turn it off." He lifted his hands up and held them an inch from the surface of the orb and closed his eyes. As he did so, the light inside glowed brightly for a moment, before dimming down and disappearing altogether. His eyes snapped open and he grinned. "There we go!" he said happily, "Deactivated it," he picked it up and tossed it between his hands. Rose watched the orb which now looked simply like a hollow glass ball. "Back to the TARDIS," he said cheerfully, heading for the door.

"Hang on!" Yvonne shouted, "You can't just take that!"

"Yes I can," the Doctor replied simply.

"That's property of Torchwood," she argued.

"No it's not it's property of the Time Lords which makes it property of me. And don't give me that 'if it's alien its ours' thing 'cause it really isn't. Bye!" he headed for the door again.

"Stop him!" Yvonne ordered, and the Doctor stopped suddenly as a number of guards ran to the door blocking his exit. Slowly, he stepped back into the room.

"I see," he said, "well if it's going to be like that…" he walked towards Rose and took her hand. "You know Rose I think there's only one thing we can do in this situation."

"And what's that?" she asked, already knowing his answer.

"Run!" in a flash of movement he pointed the sonic screwdriver at the nearby computers, which suddenly exploded in a poof of smoke and sparks, distracting the guards just long enough for the Doctor to pull Rose out of the room.

The two of them bounded down the corridor, hand in hand, as they heard the guards running after them. Seconds after they'd exited the room, an alarm went of accompanied by a female voice saying, 'warning, intruders'.

"This is stupid!" Rose shouted over the noise, "I _work _here I can reason with them!"

"I think it's a bit beyond that Rose!" the Doctor shouted back as he pulled her down a flight of stairs. They came to a clumsy stop as they saw a group of guards coming up after them, and quickly headed back the other way. They reached the top of the flight and carried on down the corridor, just in front of the guards.

They ran haphazardly through the twisting corridors, skidding around corners and swerving to avoid the stunned bystanders. Around another corner they slid and ran back the other direction as a group of guards appeared in front of them. The Doctor pulled Rose through a door and slammed it shut behind them, quickly pulling out the sonic screwdriver and locking it. He spun around and scanned the room for anything of help. There was no one else there, just piles of alien machines.

"Phone Jack see if he can get any sort of distraction," the Doctor ordered as he began to inspect the machines. Rose pulled her phone out, dialled a number and held it to her ear.

The Doctor sifted through the piles of machines as they heard bangs coming from the door as the guards tried to get in. He angrily threw the machines aside: none of them were any help.

"He's not answering!" Rose said, holding her phone helplessly. The Doctor looked around the room again as the door began to weaken under the guards' blows. He ran towards another pile of machines, desperate for anything that could help. "There's no other way out of this room," Rose said desperately. They could jump out of the window, they were 25 floors up. "Can't we teleport back to the TARDIS or something?" she suggested, but the Doctor shook his head.

"Not while she's broken," he said, still rummaging through the pile. Rose looked nervously towards the door.

"We're trapped," she said quietly.

"Well," the Doctor said thoughtfully as he picked a smallish, melon-shaped device from the pile, "there's always one thing we can do."

xxx

Rose felt her mind fall out and her body scream as she tumbled through the air. It wasn't the first time this had happened and probably won't be the last, but she could never get used to it.

She tried to hold in her screams as the Doctor fiddled with the device in his hands, with one arm wrapped around her waist. They'd jumped out of the window just as the door had burst open, and were plunging helplessly through the air.

"Bloody thing!" the Doctor complained as he whirred the sonic screwdriver at the device in his hands.

"Hurry up!" Rose cried, anxiously watching the rapidly upcoming ground.

"Aha!" he laughed as the device started to beep.

"Hello sir, what can I do for you today?" a mechanical voice said.

"Up!" the Doctor ordered, "Go up!!" There was a grinding of gears from the device as suddenly they drastically slowed down, but were still falling at an alarming speed. "Come on go up up up!!" the Doctor shouted desperately.

"Not… enough… power…" the voice said quietly as it struggled against the weight. The Doctor clung onto it, clutching it against his chest as Rose clung to him. They carried on falling disturbingly fast, and it wasn't long before they could make out groups of guards standing at the bottom waiting for them.

"Oh great," Rose muttered, "if we don't get killed by the fall we get captured by the guards." The Doctor chose to ignore her and concentrated on the device in his hands.

"UP!" he shouted at it, "Up! Go up! Or at least… significantly across…" he tried to scan the ground for a place they could land, but by now they'd gained rather a large audience, and the guards had spread to anywhere in landing distance. He felt Rose hold him tighter as they fell closer and closer to the ground. "That's it… self destruct! Down!" he ordered, throwing the device downwards.

"Self destruct? What the hell do you want that for?!" Rose shouted.

"You'll see," he said confidently, holding her with both arms. He kicked against the side of the building and they went flying sideways as the ground rushed up to them closer and closer.

Next thing they knew was a bright, white light, followed by the sound of an explosion as they were blasted upwards, flying rather dramatically across the streets.

Rose held tightly to the Doctor and didn't dare look out as she felt them falling and awaited fearfully for the ground to hit them.

There was an almighty splash and she suddenly found herself underwater, thrashing around, desperately trying to find some air. She felt herself pulled up by someone and gasped for air as she broke the water. Her eyes snapped open and she saw the Doctor looking back at her, his expression similar to her own: a mixture of fear, relief, exhaustion and sheer excitement.

"You ok?" he asked with a grin, relaxing his tight grip on her slightly.

"Oh, fine, yeah," she replied half sarcastically, and they swam to the edge of the fountain they'd landed in, trying to ignore the surprised looks of the people around them.

As they reached the edge, the Doctor pulled himself out and grabbed Rose's hand, pulling her out after him.

"Right," he said as they dizzily found their feet, "back to the TARDIS."

xxx

The Doctor stood by the consol leaning on it watching the screen as water dripped from his sodden clothes to the floor. His hair was plastered to his face, trails of water running down his neck.

Rose squeezed her dripping hair and shook the water off her hands. The Doctor had said that the TARDIS would be fine if they got water beneath the grating, so she didn't have a problem with trying to dry herself off a bit. She watched the orb, placed on a section of the consol and linked to it via various wires. It was activated again now, the inside once again glowing with the vortex, almost hypnotising.

But she was interrupted as the door opened and Martha entered the room, Aurora in her arms.

"You're back!" she said happily, then her smile faded as she looked between them. "What the hell happened to you? You're soaking wet!"

"Ooh we decided to go for a midday swim," the Doctor said distractedly, "highly refreshing. Bloody thing!" he hit the side of the screen angrily, and ran a hand through his hair, leaving grooves where the water left it stuck up. He then shook his head and sent water droplets flying from his head.

"What's wrong?" Rose asked.

"It's not working. The TARDIS hasn't got enough power!" he kicked the consol and slumped into the chair.

"What's that?" Martha asked, looking at the orb.

"It's a message," the Doctor answered, "from the Time Lords. But I can't make out what it's saying and the TARDIS doesn't have enough power to fix it." He put his elbows on his knees and rested his head in his hands, staring at the screen, deep in thought. He then looked downwards as his fingers ran through his hair.

Martha watched the orb for a few moments, mesmerised by it.

"Where'd you find it?" she asked.

"In Torchwood," Rose answered, "they found it falling from the sky. The Doctor and I kinda stole it," she gave a small, nervous laugh. The Doctor wasn't paying attention, he was busy muttering to himself, staring at the screen.

"So what's the message saying then?" Martha asked. Rose shrugged.

"No idea," she muttered. The Doctor stood up to the consol and fiddled with the controls. There was a series of beeps from the consol and a slight smile appeared on his face. "Aah, now that's more like it!"

"You got it working?" Rose asked excitedly.

"Well, got a bit more power, should be able to make out something," the Doctor answered, walking around the consol pressing various buttons and dials. "Right, let's see what we can see," he said, closing his eyes and resting his hands on the orb. Martha watched through wide eyes as his body began to glow with a gold light, the inside of the orb shining brightly.

Moments later it was over as he pulled his hands off and stared down at the orb.

"What did you see?" Rose asked. He didn't answer for a long moment while he continued to stare at the orb.

"I don't think it's a message," he said quietly, walking over to the screen and pressing buttons on the consol.

"What is it then?" Rose asked as she watched him. He looked up at her, a solemn expression on his face.

"I think it's a cry for help," he said sadly. He quickly looked back at the screen. "But that doesn't make any sense," he thought out loud, "if it's a message from the Time Lords to other Time Lords to come and help… why weren't those Time Lords already in the War? They'd all be on Gallifrey anyway, it can't be that different here."

"Maybe it's a message to species other than Time Lords?" Martha suggested, but the Doctor shook his head.

"It can't be, only Time Lords can understand that, it kills anything that tries to read it that isn't a Time Lord."

"What exactly did you see?" Rose asked.

"From what I could make out, it was pretty much the same as in our universe. The Time Lords were losing the war and were having to take drastic measures. I think that's why they sent this out, to find any other Time Lords that might be able to help… but by that point surely they'd already have all the Time Lords in the war…" he rubbed the back of his neck, staring intently at the screen. "I don't know," he said finally, sitting back in the seat. "If the TARDIS had enough power I could figure it out easily but…" he trailed off, as his expression softened in realization. "Oh but that's it!" he shouted jumping up off of the chair, "Whoever's taking power from the TARDIS doesn't want us stuck here, they just don't want me to read the message!" He grinned a manic grin at his companions, "Which makes me want to read it even more!" he ran back to the consol and attacked the controls, now more determined to figure out what the orb was trying to tell him.

"But if someone doesn't want you to read it," Rose said, "doesn't that mean it's a message for you?"

"Quite possibly," the Doctor said as he worked, "maybe somehow the Time Lords knew I would come and sent me this. Usually I'd say it's impossible but I think I've given up on that word recently. I like improbable – I don't look so stupid that way when what I say can't happen happens," the consol sparked as he ran across it, "it's _improbable _that the Time Lords could send me a message. Highly highly improbable. But possible." The TARDIS shook again as he pulled a lever. "YES!" he shouted happily, "If I channel the unneeded power into the orb I can figure out exactly what it's trying to tell me. Only thing is it'll then be ages before we can go," he looked back at Rose and Martha, "but I don't think that matters does it?" he said with a grin. He then looked back at the screen. "Should be a couple of hours before this is done." He said.

At that point, Jack came swanning into the room.

"Good morning everyone!" he greeted loudly.

"Good afternoon, Jack," Rose greeted back. He looked at her.

"Has it been raining?" he asked, looking between her and the Doctor.

"Only for us," Rose muttered. Jack was about to ask what happened when he noticed the orb on the TARDIS consol.

"What the hell's that?" he asked, walking up to it.

"Don't touch it," the Doctor advised, still looking at the screen.

"Ok, but what is it?"

"It's a message from the Time Lords, we stole it from Torchwood. Actually," he looked towards Rose, "that means they're probably after us doesn't it?"

"Probably," Rose agreed.

"Right then!" he slapped his hands on the consol as he straightened up. "We need to get Aurora to somewhere safe, if they get hold of her God knows what they'll do."

"Probably the same thing they'll do if they get hold of you," Rose said.

"Exactly, so we need to get her somewhere safe," he walked towards Martha and took his daughter from her arms. "Looks like we need to pay a visit to Jackie," he turned to Jack, who was standing by the consol, "Jack stay here and protect the TARDIS if Torchwood come. Rose, Martha, let's go. Allons-y!"

xxx

The Doctor, Rose and Martha strolled back to the TARDIS. After a rushed explanation to Jackie as to what was going on, they were finally on their way back.

"When we get to the TARDIS, I need to put a blocker on it, stop Torchwood finding it. It wont stop them completely but it'll slow them down," the Doctor said, as they neared the place they'd parked. "Then I think we need some food, I dunno about you but I'm starving." Rose and Martha nodded enthusiastically in agreement. They turned a corner to where the TARDIS had been parked.

It wasn't there.

"Oh no no no no no!" The Doctor cried, running into the centre of the square. Rose and Martha glanced around themselves in surprise.

"What's happened to the TARDIS?" Martha gasped.

"We're too late," the Doctor said quietly, "they've already taken it. Which means…" he looked up at his companions in horror, "They're here waiting for us."

Suddenly groups of guards appeared from behind the buildings and ran towards them. "Run!" The Doctor shouted, following Rose and Martha as they ran out of the square.

Suddenly he felt large hands on his back as he was pulled backwards. They held him by the arms as he struggled against them, kicking and fighting.

Rose spun around and stared for a second in terror as the Doctor struggled against his captors. She tried to run back to help him, but was caught herself. She struggled vainly against their strong grip, screaming and clawing at them.

Martha stood at the edge, unsure of what to do. She couldn't just run and leave them, but she knew she couldn't help them either.

"No! Rose!" the Doctor shouted, watching helplessly. Somehow he managed to find the strength to pull away, ripping himself from their grip. He stumbled forwards towards Rose, and tried desperately to fight off the guards holding her. He grabbed her and pulled her away, as they tried to run. But they weren't quick enough, as the guards were soon on top of them again. "Rose, just run!" he ordered as he tried to push her away, "don't come back just run!" He managed to push her out of their grip and pushed himself into them. "Run!!" the Doctor shouted at her as he was pulled back.

Rose stood, just staring as the guards advanced on her. She knew the Doctor was telling her to run, but she couldn't just leave him…

Suddenly the decision was made for her as she felt someone grab her by the arm and begin to pull her away. She looked round to see Martha running in front of her, dragging her along.

"No! I've gotta help the Doctor!" she shouted, trying to go back, but Martha wasn't going to give up.

"We've got to go! Come on!" she pulled Rose back again and the two of them ran, feat pounding, hearts racing, through the streets of London. Gradually, they heard the shouts of the guards behind them fade as they managed to pull away.

Finally, they came to a stop and stood for a few moments, panting, as they looked behind them, expecting to see the guards come running around the corner. But nothing happened. For a few moments, all they could do was stare as they realised they were… alone.

xxx

The Doctor struggled against the guards, flailing his legs and arms at them in an attempt to escape. He was relieved that Rose and Martha had run, but he just hoped that they managed to escape and didn't get captured.

More guards gathered around him, securing his legs and body until he could scarcely move. He tried to struggle but it was no use, and he could only watch as one man approached him with what looked like a syringe in his hand. The Doctor tried to pull back as the man lifted the syringe to his neck, but couldn't move enough and soon felt the cold metal pierce his skin, squeezing his eyes shut as he felt the unknown liquid enter his blood.

He opened his eyes again as the needle was removed, but could only stare at the men in front of him for a few moments before his vision started to blur and he felt his limbs grow heavy. His eyelids slid closed as he felt a wave of tiredness wash over him and he slipped into unconsciousness.


	10. Prisoner

Wow, this chapter refused to end. It just kept going. So sorry for the long update time! Arg...

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who.

xxx

Rose and Martha stared down the way they'd just run as their minds raced.

"Oh my god they've got him," Rose said finally, "they've got the Doctor, we've got to go back!" she started to run back, but Martha grabbed her.

"No! We can't! They'll just get us too," Martha argued.

"Well what do we do then?!" Rose shouted angrily.

"We… oh I don't know! You're the one that works at Torchwood, you tell me!"

"I don't think I work there anymore…" Rose muttered. She pulled herself away from Martha and looked around nervously. "I don't even know what they'll do to him. The only aliens they've ever found have been dead, and they've always dissected them and done experiments and stuff."

"Well they're not going to do that to the Doctor, are they?" Martha said, "I mean, they wouldn't." Rose bit her lip apprehensively.

"I don't know," she said quietly. "I… I don't know." She put her hand over her mouth, but tried to act strong. "We've gotta save him," she said decidedly.

"Can't we just go into Torchwood and find him?" Martha suggested.

"They're after us, aren't they? If we go anywhere near there they'll get us." Martha nodded. The two women thought for a few moments, until Martha had another idea.

"What about Jack?" she asked, "he was in the TARDIS, and if they've taken it, shouldn't he now be in Torchwood?" Rose thought about this.

"You're right!" she said excitedly, "and they won't know to go after him, as long as they don't see him leave the TARDIS." She pulled her phone out of her pocket and hit the redial button. She held it to her ear and they waited as it rang. They waited for a few moments, until Rose pulled it away from her head and looked at it angrily. "Answer your bloody phone!" she shouted. Her hand dropped down to her side. She looked up at Martha. "Now what?"

xxx

Jack lay dismally on the floor groaning. He felt a throbbing pain rush through his head as his world spun. His hands reached up and grabbed his hair, as he curled slightly into a ball and waited until the throbbing pain died down to a dull ache. He could vaguely hear noises coming from somewhere in the distance, muffled by the sounds of the TARDIS. Well, at least that meant he was still in the TARDIS.

Reluctantly, he opened an eye and looked around. He then opened the other eye and pushed himself up. He sat on the floor, rubbing his head, trying to focus his eyes. As his mind seemed to start to work again he pushed himself to his feet, trying to ignore the sudden dizziness that was threatening to envelope him and went to the consol.

He waited for the TARDIS to tell him what had happened, watching the screen. An explanation flashed across it, confirming what he already suspected. The TARDIS had been transported via some sort of transmat, and judging by his splitting headache, it wasn't a very good one. He asked the TARDIS for their location, and found they were slap bang in the middle of Canary Warf, otherwise known as Torchwood.

His attention was pulled to the voices coming from outside. He turned the security camera on and watched on the screen as a group of scientists attempted to open the TARDIS doors using a number of different methods, ranging from using high-tech alien machines to trying to pry it open using a credit card. Jack smiled to himself. God bless the human race and their stupidity.

Suddenly he wondered if the TARDIS had been taken, had they taken the others too? He'd been unconscious from the transmat and he didn't know how long he'd been out. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and looked guiltily at the surprisingly high number of missed calls on it. He selected Rose's number from his contacts list and held his phone to his ear.

xxx

Martha and Rose looked around the area that the Doctor had been taken in. The guards had gone and there seemed to be no sign of them ever being there. Martha was walking around the space for any clues as to what to do, while Rose sat on a bench trying to ring Jack every minute or so.

"Any luck?" Martha asked.

"Nothing," Rose answered, looking at her phone with a mixture of anger, disappointment and slight confusion. Suddenly, the screen lit up as it started ringing. The two of them stared at it for a few moments, before Rose pressed a button and held it to her ear. "Jack!"

"Rose! Sorry, where are you?"

"Where are _you_? You were meant to protect the TARDIS!"

"Hey, wasn't my fault! One minute everything was fine, next thing I know I'm lying unconscious on the floor from a dodgy transmat. Are you all ok?" Rose paused for a moment before answering.

"They've got the Doctor," she said quietly, the emotion evident in her voice. Jack froze for a moment.

"How long ago was this?" he asked nervously.

"About twenty minutes," Rose answered. "We thought you might be able to save him, if you can get out the TARDIS without being noticed."

"Well I can't do that now, there's a bunch of guys trying to get in."

"They'll leave soon, once they realise they can't get in," Rose said, "they'll know they need the Doctor to get in. And knowing Torchwood they'll do anything to him until he agrees to let them in," she said nervously.

"And knowing the Doctor he won't ever let them in," Jack said, equally nervous. "Right, if I'm going to save him, you'll need to help. I'll put you on an earpiece and you guide me to where he's been taken. I'll leave just as soon as this lot do," Jack said decidedly. Rose agreed, and Jack sat on the chair, watching the security camera, waiting.

xxx

Not long later, Jack was wondering through Torchwood, following Rose's directions. He was wearing a white lab coat that Rose had said to wear, because apparently everyone in Torchwood wore white lab coats whether they were scientists or not.

He'd managed to get surprisingly far into the building without being asked for a form of ID. Rose had explained that most people were checked before entering the building, so it was unlikely that they would get checked again. As long as Jack didn't draw attention to himself, he'd be fine. Something he was never too good at.

"There should be a sign just down the corridor," Rose instructed. Jack saw plates of glass attached to the wall at the end of the corridor, and sped up to get to them. He glanced over the sign looking for directions to the genetic laboratory.

"It says to go right," Jack said.

"That's it, then about halfway down the corridor should be another one on the left. Go down that and it's just down there," Jack followed the instructions, and sure enough, he soon found himself outside a set of double doors with a sign on saying 'genetic laboratory'.

"I'm here."

"Ok, use your physic paper to get in, but remember don't use it on anyone in there," she said.

"Yeah, I know," he waved the physic paper over the sensor by the door and waited for the lock to click open, and walked through the doors.

As he walked in, he saw people all around him rushing around, with clipboards or PDAs, talking into headsets. There were desks with computers analysing data from the DNA samples one other desks. He could see test tubes of blood and beakers of various solutions. Scientists were performing experiments around the room. "Bit crowded, isn't it?" Jack said.

"It would be," Rose agreed. Jack looked around for a second longer, then headed into the room.

"Captain Jack Harkness!" he spun round to see Yvonne walking up to him. "What a surprise to see you here."

"Well," Jack said, turning off the headset connecting him to Rose and trying to think of an excuse, "I heard you caught a live alien. Couldn't resist the urge to come and have a look," he said casually.

"You made it here quickly from Cardiff," she said suspiciously.

"We found a teleport," he quickly lied, "thought it was a good time to test it out." Yvonne looked suspicious for a moment, then nodded and began to lead Jack away.

"So how much do you know about this alien?" she asked as they walked through the lab.

"Nothing, other than he's alive."

"You know it's a he as well then?"

"Oh... Yeah." Yvonne led him to a table with what Jack recognised as the Doctor's belongings on it.

"We found these on his person," she explained, "but, to be honest, we don't know what most of them are." Jack looked over the various items on the table, some he recognised, some he didn't. "We questioned him on what some of them were, but he didn't say much," she picked up the sonic screwdriver. "This, he said, was a 'sonic screwdriver'. He expects us to believe that?" she asked with a laugh.

"What else did you ask him?" Jack asked.

"What the blue box is and how to get into it. But he wouldn't talk."

"What did he say?"

"First he asked about Rose, and I stupidly said that she escaped. We could have used her as blackmail and threatened to hurt her if he didn't talk, 'cause what we're doing to him now sure isn't working."

"And what are you doing now?" Jack asked nervously.

"His body is much stronger than a human's. If we can find out why, we can improve the human race. But first we need to find what extremes he can survive at."

"When you say extremes, what exactly do you mean?" Jack asked, fearing he already knew the answer.

"Environmental extremes. Temperature, gravity, air pressure... He can survive in a vacuum, but I think we may have left him in there too long... He nearly suffocated." Jack stared at her with wide eyes. "Don't look at me like that. We need to know this. We've told him that we'll stop if he tells us what we want, but he refuses."

"You're torturing him," Jack said darkly.

"It is required. Besides, he stole from us. He deserves punishment. Would you like to see the results?" Before Jack could answer, she was already leading him through the lab.

xxx

Yvonne led Jack into a small room, which had a large window on one wall looking into another room with completely white walls. "That's an environment simulator, it can produce almost anything we want it to." Jack glanced into the room, knowing how powerful it could be. He then looked across at the desks against the walls, with machines and papers scattered across them. Yvonne walked up to one of the computers and typed something on the keyboard. The screen flashed on, and Jack slowly walked up next to her as she continued working. A program started up, which displayed information on the simulators status. Yvonne typed something else in, and more boxes flashed up. "We monitored his body. This is his heart rate, he has two hearts by the way, his body temperature, brain waves and blood pressure." She typed something else, and waves appeared in the boxes, showing each piece of information as the conditions in the simulator began to change. Jack watched as his heart rate increased and decreased, his body temperature rising and falling.

"Where is he now?" he asked abruptly.

"Don't you want to see the results?" Yvonne asked.

"I've seen enough. Where is he now?" Yvonne rolled her eyes.

"We're testing to see what effect different chemicals have on his body," she answered. "This way." She walked out of the room, and Jack followed her.

xxx

"We're injecting chemicals into him to see the effects," Yvonne explained as they walked through the labs.

"But what if you poison him?" Jack asked angrily, "You don't know anything about him. You could and up killing him!"

"We're monitoring him. We take regular blood samples and check for short-term and long-term effects. I assure you, we're not going to let him die." Jack wanted to tell her right then what he felt, but he knew if he did she'd just get security on him and lock him up.

Soon they came to another door. "He's in here," Yvonne said, as she pushed it open.

The room was similar to the other one, but this time people were at the machines and were going in and out of the room. Jack looked at the window on the wall, and slowly walked towards it.

His eyes widened as he saw the Doctor slumped on the floor, his hands and feet chained to the wall. Surrounding him were scientists, watching and making notes as others injected chemicals into him. He was pale and tired, resigned to it, as if he'd learnt that fighting back just brought more pain and had given up.

"What have you done to him?" Jack asked in a whisper, not taking his eyes off his friend.

"You know what we've done to him," Yvonne said simply. Jack watched as the Doctor winced as another chemical was injected into him.

"Can he see us?" Jack asked quietly, at a loss for what else to say.

"No, this is one way glass," Yvonne answered. Jack stared as the Doctor threw his head back from the latest injection, crying out in pain. On the computer screen, his dual heart rate increased rapidly and his body temperature soared. Moments later, the gently fell and returned to normal. The Doctor gasped, wincing in pain.

"Stop this," Jack said darkly.

"Why?"

"I'm telling you to stop this!" he demanded with such force that Yvonne visibly flinched, a rare thing for her. The room fell silent as the scientists watched her. Slowly, she nodded.

"Take him back to the cell," she said quietly, and they quickly did as they were told. Jack watched as they began to unlock his chains. "Come on," Yvonne said to him, walking out the room. He took one look back at the Doctor, then left the room.

"Now what do we do?" Yvonne asked as Jack met her in the lab.

"Question him again," he answered, "Tell him you'll stop this if he opens his ship." Yvonne nodded, and began to lead him through the lab again.

Xxx

Jack waited impatiently outside the interrogation room. He looked up at the door as Yvonne waked out.

"He still won't talk," she said, "he refuses to give us any information about anything." Jack sighed.

"Let me talk to him," he said.

"Why? What are you going to do?"

"I can be very persuasive when I want to be," he said confidently, "Trust me." Yvonne watched him for a moment, then nodded. "Thanks," Jack said with a grin, then walked into the interrogation room. Yvonne turned down the corridor and went through the door a few metres down. Once inside, she looked up at the screen displaying the footage from the security camera in the interrogation room.

Xxx

The Doctor sighed as he heard the door open for the second time, not even bothering to raise his head to see who was waiting for him.

"Hey doc." His head snapped up suddenly at the sound of his friend's voice.

"Jack!" he gasped in a hoarse voice, grinning at him. "You took your time."

"Oi watch it," Jack warned with a laugh. He walked over to the chair on the opposite side to the table in front of the Doctor.

"Where's Rose? And Martha? Are they ok?" he asked as Jack sat down.

"Yes, they're fine, stop worrying about them." He watched the Doctor for a few moments. He was still as pale as before, and looked just as tired. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

"I'm fine."

"You don't look it."

"I must look worse than I feel then." Jack raised an eyebrow at him.

"I saw what they did to you," he said quietly. The Doctor didn't say anything, he just shifted slightly in his seat.

"I suppose it was you that stopped it," he said. Jack nodded. "Thanks." Jack smiled at him.

"Tell them you're going to open the TARDIS," he said, "I'll be there, we'll quickly go in before they can stop us. The TARDIS will have enough power to leave, right?"

"I don't know," he answered, "with any luck, yes. But we can stay in there, they can't get in." Jack nodded again, and stood up.

"Right then. I'll tell them you've agreed to open the TARDIS. I'll see if I can get your stuff back in the meantime too," Jack said. The Doctor nodded his thanks, and Jack headed for the door.

xxx

Yvonne stared at the screen in surprise.

"He's on his side," she said numbly. "How could I not have noticed? It was obvious!"

"Miss Hartman," one of the guards said and she turned to face him, "shall we arrest him?" She thought for a second, then shook her head.

"No. We may be able to use this to our advantage," she said thoughtfully. "Find out how Torchwood 3 knew that we'd captured and alien, exactly how Jack got here, and exactly what they want with the Doctor." She watched as Jack stood up and headed for the door, and headed for the door herself.

She walked out of the room and down the corridor, and met Jack as he came out of the door to the interrogation room.

"Well?" she asked, and he nodded.

"He said he'll open his ship," Jack answered. She raised her eyebrows.

"Oh? And how did you do that?"

"Just told him that I was the one who stopped what you were doing to him. He seems to trust me. You need to try being nice once in a while," he said with a wink. Yvonne nodded slowly.

"I see. Well, we'll have him taken to his ship then. But first, I want to ask you some things," she began to lead Jack down the corridor. "Firstly, how did Torchwood 3 know we had an alien?"

"Oh, you know… we detected alien tech here and looked through CCTV, and we saw you capture him," Jack answered.

"You know you're meant to leave alien activity in London to this Torchwood."

"We weren't going to interfere. We just wanted to know what it was."

"You seem very protective over him."

"You can't treat people like that!" he said angrily, "even if he did steal something from you. He doesn't deserve torture." For a moment Yvonne didn't answer.

"Well we're not torturing him now," she said finally. Jack sighed.

"Miss Hartman?" they turned to see a young woman standing behind them. Yvonne turned to Jack.

"Excuse me a second," she said, and took the woman to the side. "Well?"

"Um, we contacted Torchwood 3 and… they don't know anything about this. Jack Harkness is there, in Cardiff. They don't know anything about the alien." Yvonne frowned at her, then turned back to Jack, then back to her.

"Thank you… Danielle, is it?" Danielle nodded, "Thank you Danielle," Yvonne repeated, then turned back to Jack with a smile.

"Everything ok?" he asked.

"Oh yes, fine," Yvonne answered, "just one more question: who are you?" He frowned at her intensely.

"What?" he asked in confusion.

"Captain Jack Harkness," she said thoughtfully, "yeah right. Guards," she looked behind him and he spun round to see a pair of guards behind him, "take him away." The two guards advanced on him, grabbing his arms before he could get away.

"No!" he shouted as he struggled, but it was no use. The guards dragged him down the corridor, and he threw one last look at Yvonne, who was smiling smugly at him, before he was dragged away.


	11. If It's Alien, It's Ours

Exams + my work ethic + story writing + playstation 3 equals failed GCSEs + long updates + lots of playstation time! Sorry about the long updates, I've been... busy... (I can't believe this site doesn't display the equals sign!)

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who.

xxx

Jack stumbled as he was thrown into a cell. He heard the door close and lock behind him. Somehow they must have found out that he was with the Doctor, and he didn't particularly care how, he just had to find a way of escaping.

Turning around, he looked at his surroundings. There were two guards outside his cell, each holding a gun. There was a table on which they'd put his phone and wrist device that they'd taken off him before throwing him in the cell. He walked up to the bars and leant against them, already formulating an escape plan.

xxx

The Doctor was nervous. He was being taken to the TARDIS but Jack was nowhere to be seen. He looked around himself but the only people there were the guards. And Yvonne, of course.

They turned a corner, and he saw the TARDIS in front of them. He was taken to the doors, and the guard holding his arms let one go, but kept hold of one. He reached into his pocket and fiddled with the TARDIS key that they'd returned to him. But he wasn't about to use it.

"Where's Jack?" he asked Yvonne, who was standing near him.

"He's busy," she answered.

"I won't open the TARDIS without him."

"TARDIS?"

"Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. So Where's Jack?"

"He's busy."

"What's he doing?"

"Does it matter?"

"Yes!"

"Just open the damn thing." The Doctor looked insulted.

"Don't call the TARDIS a damn thing! You'll hurt her feelings." Yvonne raised an eyebrow.

"Her feelings?" she asked and he nodded.

"The TARDIS is alive," he said proudly.

"I see," she muttered. "Can you open 'her' then now?"

"Not until Jack comes," the Doctor answered. Yvonne rolled her eyes.

"He's not coming," she said simply, turning and walking back the way they'd came, "take him away." The guards grabbed him and began to pull him away.

"No! Where's Jack? What have you done to him?!" he shouted as they started to drag him away. "Yvonne!" he shouted after her, but she didn't answer. He struggled but it was no use as they dragged him away.

xxx

The Doctor watched Yvonne from behind the bars of his cell. Next to her stood a table with his belongings on it. She picked up the physic paper.

"And what's this?" she asked.

"Physic paper. Where's Jack?" she rolled her eyes.

"He's fine, I told you. What's physic paper?"

"Shows you whatever you want to see." She turned the paper over in her hands, then put it back down. She picked up the sonic screwdriver. "I've told you what that is."

"Yes, a 'sonic screwdriver'. What exactly does it do?"

"Well, it's very good at putting up shelves," he answered. Yvonne was about to say something, but a man came into the room.

"Miss Hartman," he said to her. The Doctor watched as she dropped the sonic screwdriver back down on the table and walked out the room.

"What is it?" she asked angrily.

"We've located the other two women," the man replied, "we've got a group of guards there now." Yvonne's anger faded away as a smile came to her face.

"Excellent," she said, "send them in when I give the signal. First, take Jack into the interrogation room."

"Yes miss," he said as he walked down the corridor. She looked over as a scientists walked out of the room containing the Doctor's cell. She walked up to him quickly.

"Carry on with the testing," she ordered, then walked down the corridor herself.

xxx

Jack sat impatiently on the chair, watching Yvonne. There where two guards ready to stop him in case he tried anything.

"Now tell us the truth, Jack. Who are you?"

"I'm Captain Jack Harkness." She laughed and shook her head.

"Captain Jack Harkness is currently in Torchwood 3 in Cardiff. So who are you?

His twin brother?" it was Jack's turn to laugh and shake his head.

"Actually, if you must know, I'm from a parallel universe. You know when all the Cybermen disappeared? They come through to my universe. Ripped through the void, and invaded my Earth. They created a whole in the fabric of reality between the universes."

"And that's why you're here now? You and the Doctor?" he nodded. "So what does this have to do with Rose?" Jack took a deep breath as he decided whether or not to tell the truth. In the end he saw on reason not to.

"She's from our universe, too. When we closed the gap between the universes, she fell through and was trapped here. We came through to find her." Yvonne nodded slowly.

"What about the other girl?" she asked, "Is she with you?" Jack nodded. "I suppose you thought they'd escaped." Jack felt suddenly worried as she turned to the television screen behind her. She pressed a button and it turned on, displaying CCTV footage of Rose and Martha. Jack knew they couldn't have lasted long when Torchwood were after them. "On my command they will be captured and brought here," Yvonne said. Jack sat back in his seat.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked.

"Open the TARDIS," she answered. Jack smiled.

"No chance." Yvonne raised her eyebrows.

"Very well," she said, lifting her arm. She them clicked her fingers, and almost instantly guards appeared around Rose and Martha, capturing them both. Jack watched as his friends struggled to no avail. Yvonne turned off the screen. "Take him away," she ordered. Jack didn't bother to fight as he was taken by the arms and pulled out the room.

xxx

Rose and Martha stood in the same cell, waiting anxiously. Rose stood against the bars, looking out at the room around them. On a table in front of them were they're belongings that had been taken from them. They both looked at the door as it opened and Yvonne walked into the room.

"Hello again, Rose," she greeted. Rose didn't say anything. "Are you going to introduce me to your friend?" Rose turned to Martha, who stepped forward.

"My name is Martha Jones," she said, slightly nervously. Yvonne nodded to her, then turned back to Rose.

"I never thought I'd be talking to you like this," she said.

"Me neither," Rose muttered.

"I think you know what we want."

"I have no idea," Rose said. Yvonne sighed and walked to the table, and picked up a key.

"We want you to open the TARDIS," she said simply.

"You've got the key, why can't you open it yourselves?" Rose asked.

"We've tried, it won't open for us. Perhaps you know better than we do," she walked up to Rose, and the held the key up in front of her.

"I'm not going to open the TARDIS for you," Rose said with a laugh. Yvonne's smile faded and she stepped back.

"Be like that if you wish," she said, "but I would hate for anything to happen to the Doctor," a small smile crept back onto her face, as a chill went down Rose's spin.

"You wouldn't," she whispered.

"We already have," Yvonne replied. "But we may stop if we have his ship to explore in," she said slyly. Rose's mind raced. She knew she shouldn't open the TARDIS, but she couldn't let them hurt the Doctor.

"What have you done to him?" she said darkly.

"The normal. Tests, experiments… right now I believe they're injecting him with chemicals to see what effect it has on his body." Rose and Martha's eyes widened as Yvonne turned to a plasma screen behind her. "Would you like to see?" she asked, as she pressed a button on the screen. The screen flickered as an image appeared, and Rose and Martha nearly choked at what they saw.

The Doctor was slumped on the ground chained to the wall, surrounded by scientists. He looked pale and tired. A scientist in a white lab coat walked up to him and injected something into his neck. He winced and gritted his teeth, tucking his head into his chest. He coughed and choked, taking short, sharp breaths. Moments later, the same scientists returned with another syringe and another chemical and injected it into him. As he did, for a moment nothing happened, then the Doctor suddenly flung his head back and screamed in pain.

Rose and Martha stared in horror, both now against the bars, anger rising up in them. The Doctor cried out again as a new wave of pain spread through his body. Finally, they couldn't take any more.

"Stop it!" Martha shouted angrily, "You can't do this!"

"Leave him alone!" Rose shouted equally angrily.

"Why should we?" Yvonne asked calmly.

"This isn't right!" Rose argued, "It's not fair! You can't do this to him, he has rights!"

"Oh really? He doesn't have human rights, does he? And I haven't heard of alien rights."

"But you can't do this!" Martha yelled, "He's not some test subject, he doesn't belong to you!"

"If it's alien, it's ours," Yvonne replied smoothly. Rose glared at her with all the anger she could, and kicked the bars.

"Stop hurting him!" she demanded, throwing her fists against the bars. Yvonne simply smiled smugly at her.

Suddenly, the room was filled with the sound of an alarm. Everyone in the room looked around in surprise. On the screen, the scientists looked around themselves as the Doctor leant back with a small, relieved smile on his face.

Yvonne sighed angrily and walked out of the room.

"What is it?" she demanded off the first security guard that passed her.

"Captain Jack Harkness," he said, "he's escaped."

xxx

Jack dashed down the corridor, skidding around the corners past bewildered passer-bys. They should have known better than to have him taken back to his cell by a couple of very gorgeous guards. They should have reacted faster when he snogged them both, at the same time, instead of just standing them staring at him as he ran away. If they had perhaps he wouldn't have escaped. But they didn't, and he had.

He hurtled past a group of scientists as an alarm suddenly went off alerting everyone to his presence, or lack of. Within seconds he was being chased by guards, and he found himself careering into a lift, narrowly missing the closing doors.

He gasped for breath as the lift began to move, resting for a few moments before looking at his writs device and telling it to lead him in the direction of Rose and Martha. It displayed their location and calculated the quickest way to get to them. He looked up at the screen above the lift displaying the floor. He hoped he'd be able to get back down to the floor they were on and reach Rose and Martha without getting caught. It was a long shot, but he always loved a challenge.

He quickly pressed a button on this wrist device and the lift ground to a stop. A smile came to his face: Torchwood won't have been expecting that. He pressed another button and the doors were forced open. The lift was stuck about half way below the floor, so he climbed out and gave a quick grin to the people staring at him before running down the corridor.

xxx

The Doctor was back in his cell, his only company the two guards that were watching him. He sauntered up to the bars and leant on them casually, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Not very interesting in here, is it?" he said, watching the two guards intently, "What with all that going on out there, and you're stuck watching little old me in here. I'm hardly going to escape am I?" he lowered his voice, "Don't you want to know what's going on out there? Go on, no one's going to notice if you just take a look out. Just a quick little peep," he waited, but got no response. "Jeez you two are like the guards at Buckingham Palace, you are," he said with a big arm gesture, walking away from the bars. Still no response. "Pfft," he sat on the wooden bench in the cell, folding his arms.

At that point their radios suddenly crackled to life, as a distorted voice came through them.

"All available guards, pursue the escaped prisoner. Repeat, all available guards to lower levels now," the voice said. The Doctor watched as the two looked at each other, then one headed out the door.

"Ooh, so he gets to see what's going on," he said, standing up again and walking up to the bars, "and you're still stuck in here. That's too bad," he leant against the bars just next to the guard, who was concentrating on ignoring him. "You should never leave one guard alone with a Time Lord, you know, because there's always the small chance," he began to lift his arms, "that he might do this," he suddenly reached through the bars and grabbed him by the sides of the head and closed his eyes. A second later the guard lost conscious and the Doctor gently lowered him to the floor.

He then turned to the table that was just in front of the cell. Yvonne had dropped his sonic screwdriver conveniently close to the edge when she left. He walked up to the bars and stuck his arm through, only to find that he was about an inch away from the screwdriver. He sighed, and began to push his arm through even further.

xxx

Rose and Martha were excited. Finally, it looked like they were going to escape. There was only one guard watching them now, and they were sure it was only a matter of time before the Doctor or Jack came to them.

Just as expected, from the ceiling they heard a noise. The three of them looked up to the ceiling. The guard held his gun ready, pointing it at the ceiling. There was a click, and the grating on the vent above the guard moved, but the guard didn't seem to notice. A second later, Jack jumped out, landing square on the guard. Rose and Martha laughed as Jack stumbled to his feet.

"Sorry mate," he said to the unconscious guard. He then knelt down and picked up his key card and turned back to the cell. "Hello, ladies," he greeted with a grin.

"Hello Jack," they both replied as he walked across to the side of the cell and swiped the key card through a device on the wall. The door of the cell clicked open, and Rose and Martha ran out.

"Come on, we'd better get going," he said, heading for the door.

"Why don't we go through the air vents?" Martha asked, "won't it be safer?"

"Nah, they know I was there, they'll be expecting it now," he pulled a futuristic looking gun out of his pocket. He noticed Rose and Martha's stunned face and laughed. "Relax, it's a stun gun," he said as he opened the door and walked out.

xxx

Jack, Rose and Martha ran down the corridor at full speed, skidding around the corners avoiding the guards running after them. They burst out into a storage room, filled with alien artefacts.

"Split up!" Jack ordered, and they scattered into different directions as the guards came out after them.

xxx

Yvonne strode angrily down the corridors of Torchwood. Now not only had Jack Harkness escaped, but so had Rose and Martha. The only person they had left was the Doctor and she was damned if she was going to let him escape.

"Miss Hartman!" she spun round to see a young female scientist running up to her, clutching a wad of papers in her hand.

"What is it?" she asked as the scientist reached her.

"We were doing tests on the Doctor's DNA, scans to find any traces of it outside of Torchwood," she explained breathlessly, "and we found this," she handed Yvonne a piece of paper.

She quickly scanned the text on the sheet, and as she did so a smile came to her face.

"Bring them here," she ordered, handing the paper back to the scientist and carrying on down the corridor.

xxx

The Doctor could feel the sonic screwdriver on the tips of his fingers. Just a bit further…

Suddenly there was a crackle as the guard's radio came to life. He looked down at it in surprise as a voice came through.

"Alien DNA located outside of Torchwood. All available guards to report to info room 3. DNA located at address: Number Three, Swales Road, Greater London."

The Doctor's eyes widened as the familiar address was read out.

"No…" he whispered in horror, as for a second he was paralysed by fear. He knew exactly what this meant. They'd found Aurora.

xxx

Jackie hummed to herself as she stirred her tea. Pete had gone out and Jenna was at nursery, so it was just her and Aurora. The Doctor and Rose had been adamant that she must protect her at all costs, but she wasn't entirely sure why. Nothing out of the ordinary had happened and they'd been gone for ages.

She picked up her tea and walked back into the living room, where Aurora was sat on the floor playing with a toy. She sat on the sofa and began to sip her tea. As she leant back she watched Aurora play, and heard the Doctor's words float through her head.

_Whatever you do, don't let Torchwood get her._

She frowned as she thought about his words. Rose worked at Torchwood, they weren't enemies. What would Torchwood do with Aurora?

Her musings were interrupted by a knock at the door. She sighed and pushed herself up, putting her cup on the table by the sofa and walking through to the entrance hall. As she opened the front door, she gasped at who she saw.

"Yvonne Hartman, Torchwood. We've come for Aurora." Jackie stared for a second at Yvonne and the guards behind her, then slammed the door shut and ran through the house to Aurora.

She screamed as she heard the door being kicked off its hinges behind her. She scooped Aurora up into her arms as she ran through the living room. Behind her came crashes as the guards ran after her, not caring what they destroyed along the way.

She ran through the kitchen and out the back door. The sounds of the guards behind her grew louder as she ran across the garden. Daring to glance behind her, she saw the guards gaining on her. She ran numbly in fear, as more guards appeared around her. Suddenly she found herself in front of a metal fence. She spun around, only to find guards approaching her from all sides. There was no escape. She clutched Aurora close to her and closed her eyes in defeat, awaiting the brutality of the Torchwood guards.


	12. Almost Free

I have an exam tomorrow, and being the logical person that I am, instead of revision I wrote and posted this instead! This chapter seemed to come really easy and didn't take me long to write, so I guess it's ok...

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who.

xxx

All Rose could hear as she hurtled down the corridor was the stamping of feet behind her, growing ever louder and closer. She had no idea where she was going and was praying that she didn't find herself in a dead end.

She reached a flight of stairs and ran up them three steps at a time, gasping for air in ragged breaths, her legs burning. Back when she travelled with the Doctor, this would have been easy. She must be out of practise.

As she reached the corridor, she was suddenly slammed into a wall by a body careering into her from the side. She coughed, winded from the impact, spinning around to see who had run into her, only to find Jack.

"Rose!" he gasped, sounding as out of breath as she was. Behind him she could see the corridor he'd just come down, and the guards that were following him. She couldn't seem to form words, and just stared with wide eyes. He quickly grabbed her hand and pulled her down the corridor.

xxx

"Come on… come _on_…" the Doctor muttered to himself as he reached desperately for his sonic screwdriver. He could feel it on his fingertips, just a few more millimetres…

"Yes!" he shouted triumphantly as he finally managed to pull it towards him. He picked it up and kissed it, then ran across the cell and held it out to the device that was on the wall that the guards had run their key cards through to lock the door. The screwdriver whirred away, but did nothing. He shouted in anger as he realised what was happening, and dropped his hand to his side and hit his head against the wall. "Bloody deadlock seals…" he muttered.

Suddenly he heard the door open and looked up in horror. If he got caught by guards now…

He breathed a sigh of relief as he saw Martha run breathlessly into the room. She quickly faced the door and shut it behind her, not noticing him.

"Martha!" he called, and she spun around. Her face light up as she saw him.

"Doctor," she gasped happily, running up to him, "you're alive!"

"Yeah, listen, you need to get the key card from the guard," he said, nodding to the man lying unconscious on the floor. Martha quickly knelt down and started looking through his pockets.

"What did you do to him?" she asked.

"He's fine, just unconscious. Hurry up!"

"Ok, ok, calm down," she muttered as she found the key card and stood up. She turned to the device on the wall and slid the key card through the slot. A message appeared on the screen. "Oh dear," she said quietly.

"What? What is it?" the Doctor asked urgently.

"It says it needs a second verification," she read out, "another key card," she turned to the Doctor, "but when Jack got us out he only needed one."

"My cell must have higher security. Dammit!" he punched the wall angrily.

"Can't you use the sonic screwdriver?" Martha suggested, but he shook his head.

"It's a deadlock seal, the sonic screwdriver can't open deadlock seals," he explained. They stood in silence for a few moments, as they tried to think of what to do.

They looked up suddenly as the door opened, but were relieved to find Rose and Jack.

"Doctor!" Rose cried happily, running up to him and hugging him through the bars, "thank God you're ok." He hugged her back, but quickly separated from her.

"They've found her," he said urgently, "they've found Aurora."

"What?! How?" Rose gasped.

"I don't know, listen! We need another key card to get me out," he explained. Rose looked over to Jack, who quickly pulled the key card out of his pocket. He went to the device on the wall and swiped the card through it, and the lock to the Doctor's cell clicked open. "Brilliant!" he enthused, running out. He went to the table and hastily stuffed his belongings into various pockets.

"We haven't got much time," Jack said, "we managed to lose the guards but they'll find us again soon. The whole building's on red alert." The Doctor nodded slowly, taking this in.

"Right," he said, "first thing's first, we need to get back to the TARDIS. If we're lucky, I should be able to get us back to Jackie and Aurora before Torchwood get there." They all nodded.

"But how do we get to the TARDIS?" asked Jack, "there are guards everywhere."

"Can't you teleport us back?"

"Not in here, they've put defences up." The Doctor nodded, and looked around for inspiration.

"Air vents?" he suggested, looking up.

"Already tried that, they've turned the heating up, we'd boil in there." The Doctor nodded again.

"Then I guess there's only one thing for it," he said, heading to the door. "We run!"

xxx

Jackie clutched her granddaughter close to her, awaiting the guards. She could hear them getting nearer, it was only a matter of seconds until they'd reach her.

Suddenly there was a massive explosion, and the screeching of car tyres. Jackie snapped her eyes open to see a van driving through the surprised guards, and skid to a halt in front of her. The side of the van opened, and Mickey held his hand out.

"Come on!" he shouted, and she quickly did as she was told. He pulled her up and closed the door, and the van was off again.

Jackie gasped for breath on the bench she was sitting on, still clutching Aurora tightly.

"Thanks," she said hoarsely. Mickey nodded.

"You'd better be grateful for this," came a voice from the driver's seat. Jackie looked round to see Jake there. "I'm risking my butt for you," he said as he skilfully drove through the Tyler's garden.

"I am grateful!" she assured him. She looked back at Mickey. "I suppose the Doctor told you to do this," she said, but he shook his head.

"I heard that they'd found Aurora and thought that you might need some help," he said. Jackie was pleasantly surprised that she didn't need to thank the Doctor for this.

"Oh good," she said, looking out the window as they went onto the road.

xxx

Rose and the Doctor ran down the corridor, hand in hand, for the second time that day. The group had split in half, with Jack and Martha going another way. They'd been running for ages, as the Doctor tried to remember where the TARDIS was. He kept pulling her down different corridors in an attempt to make sure they didn't meet a group of guards coming the other way. So far, it had worked.

The Doctor pulled her up another set of steps, and they ran breathlessly along the corridor. Rose decided that when they got to the TARDIS she would have to have words with him about using all these steps. They'd gone up about 5 floors now and she was sure that the TARDIS was on the same floor they'd been on.

They ran round a corner, knocking over a few people on the way, and headed straight down the corridor to the lift, the doors of which were already closing. The Doctor pulled her that little bit faster, holding out the sonic screwdriver. They managed to reach the lift just in time, and skidded into it, hitting the back with a thud. They both stood for a second, panting, leaning against the wall.

"Rose?!" gasped a voice. Rose looked up to find a friend of hers in the lift with them, staring at them with wide eyes.

"Susan!" she greeted breathlessly, "long time no see."

"What the hell happened to you?!" she asked, scandalised, "I've heard all sorts of rumours!" her gaze went slowly from Rose to the Doctor, "and who's this?" she asked, her tone changing dramatically.

"This is the Doctor," she said, gesturing to him, "Doctor meet Susan." She held her hand out and he shook it.

"Nice to meet you Susan," he said, "Nice name, that. I like it," he added quickly, before taking his hand back and reaching into his jacket. He pulled out the sonic screwdriver and went up to the lift controls. Susan's attention went back to Rose.

"So, what happened to you? Some people are saying that you stole something from here, some are saying that you're family is alien, that you've brought an alien here, that you are an alien, some people even said that you died!"

"You lot and your human gossip," the Doctor muttered as he whirred the screwdriver at the buttons, "It's a wonder you ever get anything right." Susan frowned intensely at him.

"What's that?" she asked, pointing to the sonic screwdriver.

"Sonic screwdriver," the Doctor answered.

"What are you doing with it?" she asked.

"I'm disconnecting the lift controls from the network, so they can't take us to another floor and capture us," he answered. Susan took a step back.

"Oh my god it's true," she whispered, pointing accusingly at the Doctor, "You're an alien," she looked over at Rose, desperate not to believe this was happening.

"Yeah, he is," Rose admitted, "but I'm not, I'm as human as they come. Promise. It's just him." Susan looked between the Doctor and Rose.

"How do you know an alien??" she gasped.

"Um… it's a long story," Rose answered.

"They said you stole something – is that true?" Susan asked, but the Doctor answered before Rose got a chance to.

"What we 'stole' Torchwood never had the right to have in the first place," he said, "I was taking back what belonged to me."

"What was it?" Susan asked.

"A message, from my people to me. Torchwood intercepted it and took it before I got the chance to."

"They said that they were protecting us against you, that you were trying to take over the world or something."

"Pfft," the Doctor laughed, "that's the last thing I'd do, I seem to spend most of my time protecting this world." Susan nodded slowly, as things began to make sense. Torchwood had been telling them that Rose and the aliens were bad, but in reality it was the other way round.

Her train of thought was interrupted as the lift suddenly came to a stop, and the doors opened. The Doctor grinned as he put the screwdriver away.

They looked out and saw groups of guards in the large storage room the lift had come to, most of whom were restraining Martha who was trying to get to the TARDIS, which sat in the middle of the room. The guards looked momentarily surprised to see the lift there.

"Oh look at that for timing," the Doctor said, grabbing Rose by the hand and running out into the room towards Martha.

The last thing Susan saw before the doors closed and the lift began to ascend again was the Doctor pulling Martha out of the grip of the guards and pulling both women into the strange blue box into the centre of the room.

xxx

The doors of the TARDIS flew open as Martha and Rose burst into it, quickly followed by the Doctor. He threw the doors closed behind them and immediately ran up to the consol, while Rose and Martha stayed leaning against the rails, still slightly out of breath. The Doctor ran his hands over the controls and turned the screen to face him. Rose turned to Martha.

"Where's Jack?" she asked, and Martha shook her head, looking sad and guilty.

"I don't know. We got separated. We were running and one minute he was there and suddenly he wasn't. I went to go back but the guards were there… they must have caught him again," she said breathlessly. She looked up at the Doctor. "We're gonna go and get him, right?" she asked.

"We can't," the Doctor said to both women's surprise, "we've gotta save Aurora."

"But we can't just leave him!" Martha argued.

"Jack's a big boy, he can take care of himself," the Doctor said.

"But…" Martha looked to Rose for help, but she wasn't protesting. Instead she was reaching into her pocket and pulling her phone out.

"If they haven't got there yet, I can at least warn her," she said as she dialled the number and held her phone to her ear. When Jackie answered, her voice was loud enough for even the Doctor to hear.

"Rose!"

"Mum! Listen! You have to-"

"Torchwood came!" Jackie interrupted, "they came and tried to take Aurora!" Rose, Martha and the Doctor both looked at the phone in confusion. "Oh Rose they were everywhere! I couldn't get away from them they just kept coming…" Rose watched the phone for a second Jackie continued her rambling.

"Mum, stop, where are you now?" Rose asked.

"I'm with Mickey and Jake, they rescued me," she answered. Rose and the Doctor both breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm in their van now," Jackie continued. The Doctor gestured Rose to pass the phone to him and she did so.

"Jackie?" he said as he put it to his ear.

"Hello," she replied.

"Jackie, listen, just keep going, drive anywhere. Don't stop and don't let Torchwood find you." He held the phone by his hear with his shoulder as he began to adjust some controls on the consol, "We'll get back to you later."

"But what happened? How did Torchwood know about Aurora? Where are we meant to-"

"Shh! Just do as I say. Just keep going, anywhere. Go around in circles if you must, just don't get caught. Try to stay in crowded places, that way they're less likely to attack."

"But how did they find out about Aurora?" the Doctor sighed in anger at her persistent questions.

"They took my DNA and did a scan of the area. Now we have to go, for all we know they could be tracing this call," he lifted his hand to the phone. "Good luck," he said, then hung up and tossed the phone back to Rose, who pocketed it.

"We can find Jack now then?" Martha asked, and the Doctor nodded.

"I'll do a scan for him," he said, "with any luck we might be able to materialise around him." They waited for a moment until there was a beep. "That's interesting," the Doctor muttered.

"What?" asked Rose.

"He's not in the building," he reached out to a dial and rotated it.

"He must have escaped," Marta said happily.

"Good old Jack," Rose laughed. But the Doctor was still looking anxious.

"He's not outside Canary Warf," he said, still adjusting the dial. Rose and Martha looked at each other, then back at the Doctor.

"Well can't you do a scan of London find where he is?" Martha asked.

"Doing it now," they waited a few more seconds until the TARDIS beeped again. "Oh," he said, "that's not good."

"What?" Martha and Rose asked.

"He's not in London."

"He's got to be hasn't he?" Rose asked, "I mean where would he have gone?"

"I don't know but he's not here!" The Doctor answered, "I'll expand the search," he pressed some more buttons and watched the screen. As the seconds passed, his expression became more urgent. "Ok, that's really not good," he said after a while.

"What? Where is he?" Rose asked nervously. The Doctor looked up at her and Martha.

"Forget London," he said anxiously, "he's not even on the planet."


	13. Missing

Sorry, this is a rather short chapter. I've been busy revising, but just one more week to go! Nearly there!

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who.

xxx

For a long time, all that could be heard in the TARDIS control room was the hum of engines.

"But…" Rose said finally, "How…?"

"I don't know," the Doctor answered, turning back to the screen. "If the TARDIS was working properly, I could do a scan of the solar system, but with the limited amount of power we've got I can't." He ran a hand through his hair, staring at the screen. Then suddenly his eyes light up. "But there is one thing I can do," he said, then hastily started pressing buttons. "I can scan for anything that's left the planet in the last hour," he pulled a lever, and there came a beep. "Aha! Here we are, seven minutes ago there was a teleport, right into this building. Onto a spaceship, and by the looks of things that teleport was activated on the spaceship. Which means," he turned to Rose and Martha, "Jack's been kidnapped." After a moment of shock, Martha broke the silence.

"By who?" she asked.

"Don't know," the Doctor replied, turning back to the consol, "but if we're lucky, I may just be able to trace the teleport and land on the ship." Rose and Martha watched in excitement as he attacked the controls, but all his enthusiasm was suddenly gone. "We're not lucky," he muttered, leaning against the consol.

"What's wrong?" Rose asked.

"We haven't got enough power, not yet anyway. I can program the TARDIS to extract power from this building, but it'll take a while to convert it into useable energy." He bit is lip and shook his head in defeat. There was a solemn silence for a long moment, broken suddenly by the electrical thrill of a mobile phone. Rose quickly pulled hers out of her pocket, glanced at the screen and held it to her ear.

"Mum," she greeted.

"Rose! They've found us!" came Jackie's distressed voice, still loud enough for the Doctor to hear, "so much for the Doctor's advice, we stayed in public places and now we're in a high-speed chase through central London!" Rose looked up at the Doctor, whose mind was racing to think of a solution. In the background they could hear the sound of sirens and screeching tires.

"Where are they?" he asked, turning to the consol and turning on the engines.

"Mum, where are you?" Rose asked.

"Hang on…" there was a moment of silence, then Jackie's voice came back, "Sturt Street, Islington," she answered. The Doctor started plotting a course. A second later the TARDIS jumped to life and they were all knocked aside as the engines kicked in. The Doctor clung onto the consol as the room rocked and juddered. He looked up at the screen as he did so, his gaze switching constantly from screen to consol.

"There she is!" he said suddenly, pointing at the screen. Rose and Martha ran up next to the consol, and saw on the screen a bird's eye view of the street that Jackie was on, and racing down one of the roads was a black van, followed by numerous other vehicles, including police cars.

"How do we get to them?" Martha asked, watching the screen. The Doctor hit a lever down, and sparks began to fly from the consol as the engines groaned and lurched.

"Sorry old girl but there's no other way," the Doctor said to the TARDIS, rubbing the side of the consol with one hand as he navigated with the other. "Rose, tell Jackie to open the back doors of the van," he ordered. Rose looked at him oddly for a moment, then did so.

"Mum, open the back doors of the van," she said into the phone.

"Why?"

"Just do it!" There was a pause on the other end of the phone, as the room lurched more and more. The engines groaned as the lights began to flicker.

"Oh my god…" Rose heard Jackie say, "you are kidding me."

"What? What is it?" Rose asked. She looked up at the Doctor, who was pointing at the doors.

"Open the doors!" he ordered, then turned his full concentration back to the consol. Rose and Martha watched him for a few moments, then ran towards the doors. Rose put the phone in her pocket, then hesitantly opened the doors…

Rose and Martha nearly screamed at what they saw, but their breath had already been taken away. The TARDIS was physically flying behind the van. Jackie and Mickey were both staring at them wide eyed, in as much awe as them.

"Get them in here!" the Doctor shouted from the consol. Rose held onto the rail with one hand and reached the other out.

"Jump!" she shouted, "Mum, Mickey, come on!" Jackie was staring at them in fear, slowly backing away from the doors. Mickey ran up to the edge of the van and held onto either side, bracing himself. Martha too held onto the rail and held her hand out. "Jump!" Rose shouted again, and Mickey did so.

He narrowly got on, as Rose and Martha helped pull him further in. He ran into the room, breathing heavily.

"Mum, jump!" Rose shouted, but Jackie wasn't going to do it.

"There's no way I'm jumping that!" she shouted, clutching Aurora close to her, watching the TARDIS in fear. Rose turned back to the Doctor.

"We've gotta get closer!" she shouted to him. He groaned with the TARDIS and slowly the TARDIS flew closer to the edge of the van. "Mum, now!" Rose shouted. Jackie swallowed her fear, closed her eyes and ran. As she jumped, Rose and Martha managed to grab her and pull her onboard.

Jake was having a lot of trouble. He couldn't decide what to concentrate more on – the road, the cars chasing him or the big blue box that had flown down next to him. He could vaguely hear Rose's voice calling his name from behind.

"Jake! Come on!" she shouted to him. He tried to turn his head while still looking forward.

"How?! I can't just stop driving!" he shouted back.

"Yes you can! Just run and jump!" Rose shouted back. Jack stared ahead of him for a moment.

"This is crazy," he muttered to himself, then unplugged his seatbelt and jumped out of his chair. He ran awkwardly across the van as it skidded out of control and jumped out towards the TARDIS, just managing to reach with the help of Rose and Martha. They both pulled him onboard and pulled the doors closed behind them.

The policemen didn't quite know what to make of the blue box that had been flying behind the van they had been chasing. They'd never seen anything like it, and could only stare in amazement as it flew upwards into the sky.

xxx

Rose, Martha, Mickey, Jackie and Jake stood in the TARDIS, their hearts racing, trying to get their breath back. They'd landed somewhere, and as they did the lights hand completely shut off, leaving them in almost completely darkness. Jack was still staring around him in awe. Not only did the strange blue box fly, it was bigger on the inside. This was utter madness.

"Where are we?" Rose asked, breaking the silence that had fell on them. She expected the Doctor to answer, but he didn't. So she decided she'd have to find out herself. She walked to the doors and opened them, allowing light to flood into the room.

As her eyes adjusted, she found herself looking into her own living room. She walked out and looked around. It was exactly as she'd left it, save the odd knocked over table or chair. It was completely deserted. As she walked further into the room, the others began to follow her out. She turned back and saw the Doctor exit the TARDIS last.

"You brought us home?" she asked, and he nodded vaguely. He didn't seem to be paying much attention to her. "Didn't it occur to you that they might come and look here?"

"Oh but that's the brilliance of it!" he said, suddenly perking up and running towards her, full of energy. "Think about it, you're chasing after a group of rebels who have stolen from you and broken the law. Where's the last place you're going to expect to find them?" Rose nodded and smiled as she saw the sense of his plan. "Right then," he said, clapping his hands, "you lot make yourselves comfortable, I've got to fix the TARDIS," and with that he ran up to the blue box and disappeared inside it.

xxx

Twenty minutes later, and no sign of Torchwood. The group had agreed to stay in the house in case they were spotted outside, and to stay out of the TARDIS so as not to get in the Doctor's way.

Rose wondered into the living room, and saw Martha sitting on the sofa, seemingly glaring at the floor. Perplexed, Rose decided to go and sit next to her.

"What's up?" she asked, sitting down. Martha sighed and sat up.

"The Doctor says there's not enough power to get to Jack, yet there's enough to go flying through the centre of London," she muttered bitterly.

"Well I'm sure he has his reasons," Rose replied, "If he could save Jack he wouldn't even hesitate." Martha didn't reply. Rose sighed and looked up at the TARDIS. "I'll got see how he's doing, and how long 'til we can get Jack," she said, standing up and heading to the TARDIS.

xxx

Rose opened the doors of the TARDIS, and when she looked in, she could have mistaken the control room for a church. Scattered around the room were candles that she recognised as being ones nicked from the kitchen providing the only light in the room. One of the happened to be scented, giving the air a sweet smell. Expecting to see the Doctor buried under the consol, she walked up to it, but instead found him sitting in the chair on the other side, staring at it. She smiled at him and walked round the consol to him, but as she got closer she saw his solemn looked and her smile faded. She sat down next to him, watching him in concern. He didn't even look at her.

"What's wrong?" she asked quietly, almost afraid to break the silence. For a moment he didn't answer. "Doctor?" Finally he sighed and leant back.

"I don't think I can fix her," he said sadly, still watching the consol.

"But… can't you do what you did before?" Rose asked.

"Nope, all the power's gone. Used it all to chase the van. Flying like that is bad enough in our universe let alone this one," he ran a hand through his hair, "I was worried this would happen if we went to get Jack now without letting the TARDIS fully charge up." He buried his face in his hands, sighing in defeat. Rose watched him sadly, unsure of what to say. In the end she decided there was nothing to say, so she simply hugged him. It had always worked for her when she was upset.

As she held him in her arms, she looked around the room for some inspiration on what to do next, thinking for a moment that the candles almost made it look like a shrine. She then frowned as she saw a light that certainly wasn't a candle. Craning her neck to see what it was, she suddenly realised that it was the orb containing the message.

"What about the message?" she asked, "Can you read it yet?" his head snapped up and he looked up at the consol.

"It's glowing," he said, mesmerised. He stood up and walked towards it. "It wasn't doing that before, I swear," he leant in towards it, inspecting it. He blinked at it several times, then hovered his hands over it and closed his eyes. A few moments later he whipped his hands back and stared at it. "Cheeky thing!" he said with a grin.

"What?" Rose asked, a smile creeping on her own face.

"It's sucking all the power, no wonder I couldn't fix the TARDIS."

"But it didn't suck the power before," Rose said, "Why's it doing it now?" his smile gently faded.

"You're right," he said, "that means it's getting more urgent. Whatever it needs to tell me is getting more important and it's doing anything it can to recharge enough to tell me the message," he paused, staring intently at the orb. "It's sucked all the power from the TARDIS, let's hope it's ready," he said, reaching out towards it and placing his hands on it.

Rose watched as once again he began to glow brightly. She had to cover her eyes as the light intensified, then suddenly died down moments later. She lowered her arms and looked at the Doctor, who was staring at the orb with wide eyes, an expression of shock on his face.

"What'd it say?" Rose asked quietly. He continued to stare for a moment, until he finally answered, and when he did she couldn't quite tell if he was happy or horrified.

"They're alive."

xxx

Jack groaned as he came round. He blearily opened his eyes, but couldn't see anything. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he began to register where he was. For some reason he appeared to be strapped to wall. A cold, metal wall. Just as his eyes adjusted and he began to see faint outlines, a light suddenly snapped on, blinding him. He squinted as his eyes began to readjust, and saw he was in a small room surrounded by various machines. The ceiling rose high above him, with what looked vaguely like balconies at the top. But it wasn't the room that interested him. It was the man standing just in front of him.

"Who are you?" he demanded, "And what am I doing here?"

"Most people would ask where here is before asking what they were doing here," the man replied. Jack looked at him for a long moment. He was wearing all black, with slicked-back black hair, and was looking at him in such a way that he found disturbingly familiar.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"All in good time," the man replied, "but first I have some questions of you, Jack Harkness."

"How do you know my name?" Jack demanded.

"I've been watching you, ever since you came here. It wasn't you who I was looking for originally, of course. Oh no, it was you're Time Lord friend, who seems to have appeared out of nowhere. Do tell me, where did you all come from?"

"You seem to know enough about me, how about you tell me a bit about yourself?" Jack retorted. The man laughed and shook his head.

"Pity you're so unwilling to cooperate. Well, I'll have to find out from your friends when they get here, which I'm sure won't be long. But they probably think you'll be ok, what with being immortal and all," he turned his back and began to walk to a control panel.

"How do you know so much about me?" Jack demanded angrily.

"I told you, I've been watching you. And scanning you. I never would have thought a human could have such a power." He reached the control panel and started fiddling with the controls. "You really are going to be part of something big, Jack. Something even your friends wouldn't want to save you from," he said, then looked back up to Jack. "Too bad you'll be dead before you can find out what it is," he gave Jack a sinister smile, before pulling down a lever.

Suddenly all Jack knew was pain, an intense agony that felt surprisingly similar to when Abbadon was feasting on him.


	14. A NotSoFamiliar Face

Sorry for the long update! I had really bad writers block with this, I just had no idea where I was going. But now I think I'm fairly back on track, and hopefully I'll be able to update a bit sooner next time!

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who. Or Hitchhiker's Guide, which I have once again stolen from.

xxx

Rose stared at the Doctor for a moment.

"Who?" she asked, "Who's alive?"

"All of them… everyone…" he whispered, "they never died." Rose thought about this.

"The Time Lords?" she asked quietly. He looked over at her.

"And the Daleks," he added.

"How?" she asked, "I thought you could sense them if they were alive."

"I can, but they're not there to be sensed," he answered, making Rose even more confused. He turned to her to explain.

"In this universe, the Time Lords knew that they were losing, so they locked the Daleks in a Time Envelope. In a Time Envelope, time goes almost infinitely slow, so that at the end of the universe when every other living thing is dead the pressure and energy created by the end of the universe would release the Daleks from the Envelope, and because it's the end of the universe it wouldn't matter if they escaped. But things went a bit wrong and the only way to imprison the Daleks was so imprison themselves as well, but they managed to do this in a different Time Envelope. So they're both gone, undetectable to the outside universe," he looked down at the orb he held in his hands, "This message was sent out to any Time Lords that, for some reason, weren't in the Time Envelope. It located the Time Lord technology and locked on." He paused, staring at the orb, deep in thought.

"So can't you open the Time Lords' envelope and release them?" Rose asked.

"No," he answered, shaking his head, "not without unlocking the Daleks' as well. The two envelopes are connected. Open one and you open the other. This orb was set to activate if either of the envelopes were being opened…" he trailed off for a moment, as his eyes widened in realisation. "That's what happened, that's why it started glowing. Someone's trying to open the Time Envelopes," he frowned, shaking his head, "but it has to be someone on the outside, otherwise the orb wouldn't know to activate. But to open it from the outside would require _enormous _amounts of energy, an almost infinite supply of energy…" he trailed off again, as his eyes grew even wider. "Like Jack," he said quietly.

xxx

Martha sat outside the TARDIS, watching it in silence. Rose had been in there for ages and she was beginning to debate whether to go in there herself. She sighed and shifted in her position slightly, leaning back more. Just as she did so, Mickey walked into the room and sat next to her.

"Hi," he said, "we haven't really been introduced, so I thought I'd introduce myself. I'm Mickey Smith," he held his hand out and she shook it.

"Martha Jones," she said. She glanced over to the TARDIS. "So how do you know the Doctor?" she asked.

"I'm an old friend of Rose. Well, I was her boyfriend until he came along," he said, somewhat bitterly.

"He stole her from you?" Martha asked.

"Yeah, took her away and they didn't come back for a year. They thought I'd murdered her! When they got back, she'd only been gone a few days." Martha couldn't help but snigger.

"Sounds like the Doctor," she said.

"Yeah, well he was a different man back then. But then he did something. Changed his face. Something alien." Martha looked at him in confusion.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Doesn't matter, long story," he said. Before Martha could pursue the matter, Jake and Jackie came running into the room, Jackie clutching Aurora.

"Mickey, they've found us!" Jake said urgently, "Torchwood are coming." Martha quickly stood up.

"We'd better tell the Doctor then," she said, and they were about to run to the TARDIS until the Doctor suddenly flung the door open and ran out.

"I've done it!" he said excitedly, "The TARDIS is working!"

"Great, 'cause we've gotta go!" Martha said.

"Why?"

"Torchwood are here," Jake answered.

"Oh, right, well, that's useful I was just about to suggest we leave. Let's go!" he ran back into the TARDIS and they quickly followed him in.

As they entered the TARDIS, the Doctor ran to the console and started the engines up. On the console sat the orb, glowing as the central column moved up and down.

"Did you get the message in the end?" Martha asked, eying the orb.

"Oh yes!" the Doctor shouted triumphantly as he ran around the console, "Turns out the Daleks and the Time Lords are still alive, both locked in a Time Envelope. The orb was made to activate if someone tried to open the envelopes, so I linked it to the TARDIS, which then was able to connect to the vortex which means we now have power!" he hit a button and the TARDIS shook violently, throwing them to the side. "The orb is leading us to whoever's trying to open the Envelopes, and with any luck, Jack's there too." The room juddered as the TARDIS landed. The Doctor leapt from the console towards the doors and ran out. Martha, Jake and Mickey followed him out. Jackie stood for a moment watching the door, holding Aurora close to her. Rose walked up to her.

"Mum, maybe you should stay here," she suggested, "it's safer." Jackie nodded, and Rose too headed out the doors.

Outside, the Doctor was leading the group through the winding maze of corridors, and Rose had to run to catch up with them. As she reached him, she saw that he had his sonic screwdriver out and was using it to show him where to go.

They walked through the empty corridors for what seemed like ages, until finally they heard something in the distance. Voices. The Doctor indicated for them to be quiet, as they slowly made their way towards the noise.

They turned a corner and found a balcony. They slowly walked towards it, making sure not to be spotted by whoever was in the room. As they got closer, they could hear what the voices were saying.

"…how about you tell me a bit about yourself." They all breathed a sigh of relief as they heard Jack's voice. They reached the end of the balcony and looked over the edge, down into the room beneath them. They saw Jack strapped onto some sort of machine, with a man dressed in black standing opposite him, next to what looked like a control panel.

"Pity you're so unwilling to cooperate. Well, I'll have to find out from your friends when they get here, which I'm sure won't be long. But they probably think you'll be ok, what with being immortal and all," the man said, turning to the control panel.

"It can't be," the Doctor whispered as he looked over the machine.

"What is it?" Rose asked quietly. The Doctor was about to answer, when Jack interrupted.

"How do you know so much about me?" he demanded.

"I told you, I've been watching you. And scanning you. I never would have thought a human could have such a power," the man turned to the control panel and started fiddling with the controls. The Doctor's eyes widened as he watched.

"We've got to get down there," he whispered urgently.

"You really are going to be part of something big, Jack, Something even your friends wouldn't be able to save you from." The Doctor leaned over the balcony looking for a quick way down, knowing that there wouldn't be enough time to go running through the corridors. "Too bad you'll be dead before you can find out what it is." The group gasped as the man pulled down a lever, and suddenly the machine came to life as bright white electricity covered Jack. He screamed in pain as the electricity lit up the room.

"No!" the Doctor gasped, reaching for his sonic screwdriver. He pointed it at the machine as the man below began to laugh. "I'm not close enough!" he said angrily, "I need to get down there…" he took one last look up, then saw how to get down. Hanging from the ceiling were a number of chains, out of reach from the balcony. So he climbed onto the top of the fence at the edge of the floor.

"No, don't…!" Rose shouted in protest, but it was too late. He'd already jumped off and grabbed hold of one of the chains. He swung for a moment in the air, before letting go of the chain and falling downwards. As he fell, he held out the sonic screwdriver to the machine and turned it on. Sparks began to fly from the machine as it crackled and eventually turned off. The man watched in anger as the Doctor landed on the ground, his trench coat flying out behind him. He put the sonic screwdriver back in his jacket, aware that behind him Jack was unconscious.

"So, Doctor, we meet at last," the man said, "I was wondering when you'd get here. And, of course, your friends," he looked upwards to the balcony.

"You seem to know a lot about us," the Doctor said, causing the man to look back down at him, "and like Jack said, I think it's about time we knew about you, Time Lord."

"You say that as if it's an insult."

"Maybe it is. Why weren't you in the War?"

"I could ask you the same question, _Time Lord_." The Doctor gave a small smile before answering.

"I'm not from this universe," he said, "I wasn't in your War." The man frowned at him.

"But that's impossible," he said quietly.

"That's what I thought. But I've proved myself wrong enough times." The man nodded.

"So why do you come here?" he asked.

"To get my friend," he answered, "you may have known, this universe was colliding with another. Some Daleks from my universe hid in the void, but they pushed their way back through, and with them came the Cybermen from the Earth in this universe. I had to seal the breach, but she got trapped here in the process. I came to get her back."

"I… see," the man said slowly, "these Daleks, they were from your universe?"

"Yes," the Doctor replied, "why?"

"I thought they must have been from this universe," he said thoughtfully, "I thought they were trying to get back through, so I gave them a nudge in the other direction." The Doctor's eyes widened as he realised what this meant.

"You… _you _pushed them into my universe?!" he shouted accusingly.

"So it would appear," the man answered. The Doctor was bristling with anger.

"All the people that died… everything that happened… it was all _you_," he growled. Behind him, he heard Jack groan as he began to regain consciousness. "Tell me, what are you planning to do with Jack?" he demanded.

"Haven't you figured it out?" he answered, "There are so many different types of power, but life itself, when harnessed, can be the most powerful of all. It is with this power that I shall release the Time Lords." The Doctor couldn't help but laugh.

"But don't you get it?" he said, "You can't release the Time Lords without releasing the Daleks too!"

"With enough power you can."

"But you can't!"

"You're not even from this universe, what would you know?"

"Things can't be that different between universes."

"Oh I think they can. But… perhaps you need a little convincing. If you hadn't broken my machine I could show you." The Doctor sighed and shook his head. There was no way he was risking releasing the Daleks in this universe, he had enough Daleks to deal with in his own universe.

"Before I rescue my friend and stop all this, do tell me, who are you?" The man gave him a small smile.

"I am the Master," he said. The Doctor's eyes widened, as there was a small gasp from somewhere above them. "Judging by your reactions, I'm guessing you know the me from your universe."

"And judging by your reaction I'd guess you don't know the me from this universe." The Master shook his head. "Right, well that settles it, if you don't know me I officially don't exist in this universe." He took one last look at the machine. It still hadn't quite sunk in. The Time Lords in this universe… were alive. "And maybe that's just as well," he muttered. Before the Master could say anything, he spun around and pointed the sonic screwdriver at the cuffs harnessing Jack to the wall, and broke them open. Jack fell to the ground and landed on his feet. "Back to the TARDIS!" he shouted, running out of the room with Jack following, hoping the others had heard him.

The Master glared at them in anger, and was about to run after them when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked back to see a man step out from the shadows behind him. He was also dressed in black, and had a small smile.

"Leave them," he said calmly. "He won't escape for long. It is only a matter of time until the Time Lords shall be released." The Master watched the man for a second, before it all made sense to him. He looked forward with a smile, as the echoes of TARDIS engines floated down the corridor.


End file.
